疏花水柏枝 shu hua shui bai zhi

Myricaria germanica (Linnaeus) Desvaux var. laxiflora Franchet, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat., sér. 2, 8: 205. 1886.

Shrubs, erect, ca. 1.5 m tall. Old branches red-brown or purple-brown; branches of current year green or red-brown. Leaves dense on green branchlets of current year, lanceolate or oblong, 2-4 × 0.8-1 mm, base slightly enlarged, margin narrowly membranous, apex obtuse or acute, often incurved. Racemes usually terminal, lax, 6-12 cm; bracts lanceolate or ovate- lanceolate, ca. 4 × 1.5 mm, margin narrowly membranous, apex acuminate. Pedicels ca. 2 mm. Sepals lanceolate or oblong, 2-3 × ca. 1 mm, margin narrowly membranous, apex obtuse or acute. Petals pink or purplish, obovate, 5-6 × ca. 2 mm. Filaments ca. 1/2 or 1/3 united. Ovary conic, ca. 4 mm. Capsule narrowly conic, 6-8 mm. Seeds 1-1.5 mm, apex awned; awns more than 1/2 white villous. Fl. and fr. Jun-Aug.

● Riversides, roadsides. Hubei, Sichuan.