花点草 hua dian cao

Nanocnide dichotoma S. S. Chien.

Herbs perennial. Stems yellow-green, but purplish near base, erect, often basally branched, 10-45 cm tall, somewhat succulent; stems and petioles antrorsely hirsute. Stipules broadly ovate, 1-1.5 mm, ciliate; petiole 1-5 cm; leaf blade triangular-ovate or rhombic-ovate, 1.5-4 × 1.3-4 cm, proximal leaves subflabellate, small, 3-5-veined, secondary and final veins dichotomously branched, adaxial surface greenish, sparsely covered with short, appressed stinging hairs, abaxial surface light green, sometimes purplish, sparsely puberulent, base broadly cuneate, rounded, or truncate, margin deeply 4-7-crenate-dentate, apex obtuse; cystoliths botuliform, conspicuous on both surfaces. Male inflorescences in distal axils, cymose, many times dichotomously branched, longer than leaves, long pedunculate, antrorsely hirsute on axes. Female inflorescences in clusters, shortly pedunculate, 3-6 mm in diam. Male flowers purplish, pedicellate, in bud 2-3 mm; perianth lobes 5, ovate, ca. 1.5 mm, setulose below apex; stamens 5; rudimentary ovary broadly ovoid, ca. 0.5 mm. Female flowers greenish, ca. 1 mm; perianth lobes 4, unequal, outer 2 larger, boat-shaped, keeled, 1.2 mm, apex with 1 or 2 stinging hairs, inner 2 narrowly obovate, ca. 1 mm, apex with 1 or 2 stinging hairs. Achene broadly ovoid, ca. 1 mm, verrucose. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Jun-Jul.

Shady, moist places in forests, rock crevices, along streams; 100-1600 m. Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, S Shaanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, E Yunnan, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea].