冷水花 leng shui hua

Boehmeria vanioti Léveillé; Pilea elliptifolia B. L. Shih & Yuen P. Yang; P. pseudopetiolaris Hatusima.

Herbs perennial, stoloniferous, dioecious or monoecious. Stems 25-75 cm tall, woody at base, succulent distally, with galls on mid portion of internodes, glabrous, rarely puberulent distally, densely covered cystoliths, Stipules soon deciduous, greenish, oblong, 8-12 mm, herbaceous; petiole thin, subequal in length, 1-7 cm; leaf blade abaxially pale green, adaxially dark green and lustrous, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, subequal in size, 4-11 × 1.5-4.5 cm, membranous, 3-veined, lateral veins 8-13 each side, cystoliths fusiform, conspicuous on both surfaces, base rounded rarely broadly cuneate, margin shallowly serrate, rarely doubly serrate along apical margin. Inflorescences solitary; male inflorescence a racemelike-cyme, 2-5 cm; female a compact cyme of glomerules, shorter than males. Male flowers yellow-green, pedicellate or sessile, in bud ovoid, ca. 1 mm; perianth lobes 4, connate 1/2 of length, subapically corniculate; stamens 4; rudimentary ovary small. Female flowers subsessile, in bud ca. 0.5 mm; perianth lobes connate 1/2 of length, equal, apex obtuse; staminodes 3, small, scale-like, oblong. Achene oblong-ovoid, ca. 0.8 mm, compressed, oblique, spinulose-verrucose. Fl. Jun-Sep, fr. Sep-Nov.

Shaded moist places in broad-leaved forests; 300-1500 m. S Anhui, Fujian, S Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, S Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Zhejiang [Japan].