黄木犀草 huang mu xi cao

Herbs annual or perennial, caespitose, 30-75 cm tall, glabrous. Stem branched, angular. Leaves 3-5-parted to pinnatifid, papery; lobes linear, margin repand. Flowers in terminal racemes, yellow to yellowish green; pedicel 3-5 mm. Sepals 6, linear, unequal, shorter than pedicel. Petals 6, rounded-clawed at base, lower 2 entire, lateral two 2- or 3-parted, upper 2 largest, 3-parted. Stamens 12-20. Carpels 3, connate. Capsule erect, cylindric or ovoid to subglobose, obtusely 3-angled, ca. 1 cm, apically 3-cleft. Seeds black, shiny, reniform, ca. 2 mm. Fl. and fr. Jul-Aug. 2n = 12, 24, 48.

Mountain slopes, probably escaped from cultivation. Liaoning [native to SW Asia (E to Turkmenistan) and the Mediterranean region; widely naturalized elsewhere].