元江羊蹄甲 yuan jiang yang ti jia

Lasiobema esquirolii (Gagnepain) de Wit.

Lianas, woody. Branches cylindric, puberulent; tendrils in pairs. Stipules caducous; petiole 1.5-2 cm, stout; leaf blade broadly ovate or orbicular, 4-7 × 4-6.5 cm, papery, abaxially yellowish white puberulent, adaxially puberulent when young, later glabrous, primary veins usually 9, base shallowly or deeply cordate, apex bifid to more than 1/2, lobes triangular with obtuse apices. Inflorescence an elongated raceme, 10-30 cm, many flowered, terminal; bracts and bracteoles linear, 7-9 mm, brushlike in young inflorescences; rachis angulate. Pedicel ca. 15 mm. Flower buds conical, acute, apex open with 5 teeth. Receptacle tapering to pedicel; calyx lobes 5, lanceolate, 5-6 mm, outside pubescent, tapering to apex, joined from middle. Petals yellow or whitish yellow, subequal, oblanceolate, ca. 7 mm, outside hairy, cucullate, clawed, apex acute. Fertile sta­mens 3; filaments 6-7 mm, glabrous; anthers oblong. Stami­nodes 4, much reduced to less than 1 mm. Floral disk fleshy, swollen, U-shaped. Ovary stalked, oblique, glabrous; style ca. as long as ovary stalk, stout; stigma small, truncate. Legume linear-oblong, 5-8 × 1.5-1.7 cm; valves woody, light brownish when dried. Seeds 2-5, suborbicular, compressed, ca. 9 mm in diam. Fl. Sep-Nov, fr. Nov-Dec.

● Open forests on hills. Guizhou, Yunnan.