10. Eranthemum Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 9. 1753.
可爱花属 ke ai hua shu
Authors: Jia-qi Hu & Thomas F. Daniel
Daedalacanthus T. Anderson; Pigafetta Adanson; Upudalia Rafinesque.
Shrubs or perennial erect herbs with cystoliths. Leaves petiolate; leaf blade margin entire or crenate. Inflorescences terminal or rarely axillary, spikes, lax, sometimes several forming a panicle; bracts sometimes colored, subleaflike, large; bracteoles small, narrow. Calyx 5-lobed; lobes narrow, subequal. Corolla subsalverform; tube basally cylindric, long, slender, throat sometimes inconspicuous; limb 5-lobed; lobes obovate, subequal, contorted in bud. Stamens 2, inserted below throat; anthers 2-thecous; thecae parallel, muticous; staminodes 2, clavate or filiform. Ovary with 2 ovules per locule; style filiform, glabrous or pubescent; stigma 2-lobed, lobes unequal. Capsule with a solid stalk at base, clavate, 4-seeded; retinacula present. Seeds discoid, compressed, pubescent with hygroscopic trichomes.
About 15 species: tropical and subtropical Asia; two species (one endemic) in China.
The Himalayan species Eranthemum splendens (T. Anderson) Bremekamp & Nannenga-Bremekamp reported from S Yunnan (FRPS 70: 60. 2002) is not treated here because no material has been seen by the authors. Eranthemum pulchellum Andrews is widely cultivated in S and SW China as an ornamental.
