顶花板凳果 ding hua ban deng guo

Subshrubs; stem slightly thick, puberulent, lower part rhizomatous, ca. 30 cm, prostrate, curved, or obliquely ascending, with densely fibrous adventitious roots, upper part erect, ca. 30 cm tall, leafy. Leaves at intervals of 2-4 cm on stem or 4-6 leaves close to each other; petiole 1-3 cm; leaf blade rhombic-obovate, 2.5-5(-9) × 1.5-3(-6) cm, leathery, puberulent along midrib adaxially, base attenuate into petiole, margin dentate toward apex. Inflorescences terminal, 2-4 cm, erect, rachis and bracts glabrous. Flowers white. Male flowers more than 15, inserted on almost all rachis, sessile; bracts and tepals broadly ovate, bracts small, tepals 2.5-3.5 mm; filaments ca. 7 mm; sterile pistil ca. 0.6 mm. Female flowers 1 or 2, inserted basally on rachis or sometimes solitary apically in 1 or 2 leaf axils, flower and pedicel ca. 4 mm; bracts and tepals ovate, imbricate; styles exserted after pollinated, apex convolute. Fruit ovoid, 5-6 mm; persistent styles thick and reflexed, 5-10 mm. Fl. and fr. Apr-May.

Shady and damp land in forests; 1000-2600 m. Gansu, Hubei, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Zhejiang [Japan].