细齿山芝麻 xi chi shan zhi ma

Corchorus cavaleriei H. Léveillé; Helicteres cavaleriei (H. Léveillé) H. Léveillé.

Shrubs, up to 1.5 m tall. Branches slender, densely stellate hairy when young, glabrescent. Stipules pointed, ca. 0.3 cm; petiole ca. 3 mm, hairy; leaf blade obliquely lanceolate, 3.5-10 × 1.5-3 cm, sparsely stellate puberulent, base obliquely cordate, margin denticulate, apex acuminate. Inflorescence cymose, axillary, 2-3-flowered; peduncle ca. 1/2 as long as leaf blade. Calyx tube-shaped, 4-5 mm, 5-lobed, lobes acute, puberulent. Petals 5, purple or blue-purple, ca. 2 × as long as calyx, broad distal part hairy on central area. Stamens 10, on top of androgynophore. Ovary 5-locular, hairy; stigma 5-lobed. Capsule long terete, 1.5-2 × ca. 1.2 cm, densely villous, apex short-beaked. Seeds many, very small. Fl. almost throughout year.

Grassy slopes, bushlands. SW Guangxi, Guizhou, S Yunnan [Myanmar].

Helicteres glabriuscula is very similar to H. elongata, but it differs in having leaf blades abaxially much more sparsely hairy, with more coarsely denticulate margins, basal veins 5, inflorescences always axillary, and petals purple or bluish purple, not yellow.