绳虫实 sheng chong shi

Plants 15-50 cm tall. Stem erect, much branched; lower branches ascending. Leaves linear, 2-6 cm × 1-3 mm, 1-veined, base attenuate, apex acuminate, mucronate. Spikelike inflorescence elongate, narrowly linear, loose and interrupted, at maturity often reflexed, 5-15 × 0.5 cm; bracts linear-lanceolate to lanceolate, 0.5-3 cm × 2-3 mm, 1-veined, base broadly cuneate, margin membranous, apex acuminate. Perianth segments 1(or 3), upper one broadly elliptic, apex entire or erose. Stamens 1(or 3); filaments ca. 1/2 as long as perianth segments. Utricle obovate-oblong, 3-4 × ca. 2 mm, glabrous, base broadly cuneate, apex triangular to rostrate, acute; body narrowly obovate to elongate, smooth or tuberculate; wing absent or obscure, margin entire; beak ca. 0.5 mm, apex erect, ca. 1/3 as long as beak. Fl. and fr. Jun-Sep.

Sandy wastelands, riversides, field margins, roadsides. Gansu, Hebei, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Xinjiang [Mongolia, Russia (S Siberia); NC Asia; locally naturalized in E Europe].

The authorship of Corispermum declinatum has been constantly erroneously cited as “Stephan ex Steven.” However, Steven (Mém. Soc. Imp. Naturalistes Moscou 5: 334. 1817) never accepted C. declinatum as a species, but cited it as a synonym of C. hyssopifolium Linnaeus var. “a.” The first valid publication of the name was by Iljin in 1928.