食用秋海棠 shi yong qiu hai tang

Herbs, 40-60 cm tall. Rhizomes elongate, 8-15 mm in diam. Stems erect, glabrous or subglabrous. Leaves basal and cauline; stipules triangular-lanceolate, 1.2-1.5 cm, membranous, glabrous, apex acuminate; petiole 15-25 cm, subglabrous; blade orbicular or oblate-orbicular, slightly asymmetric, 16-20 × 15-21 cm, abaxially subglabrous or sparsely hairy on veins, adaxially sparsely hairy when young, venation palmate, 6-8-veined, base cordate, margin remotely denticulate, shallowly lobed, divided to ca. 1/3 of leaf length; lobes broadly triangular, apex acuminate. Inflorescences 16-26 cm tall, subglabrous or glabrous; peduncle 4-15 cm. Staminate flowers: pedicel 1.3-2.8 cm; tepals 4, glabrous, outer 2 ovate-triangular, 1.2-1.5 × 1.2-1.6 cm, inner 2 oblong, 11-15 × 7-10 mm; stamens 140-200; filaments 1.3-5.9 mm, fused at base; anthers oblong, 0.8-1.6 mm. Pistillate flowers: pedicel 1.5-2.5 cm; tepals 5 or 6, glabrous, unequal, largest broadly obovate, 1.2-1.9 cm × 8-15 mm, smallest narrowly oblong, 11-20 × 5-14 mm; ovary glabrous, 2-loculed; placentae axile, bilamellate; styles 2, 4.7-5.9 mm; stigmas 2-cleft, spiraled. Capsule nodding, 1.5-1.8 cm; unequally 3-winged; abaxial wing oblong to falcate, 1-1.8 cm; lateral wings smaller. Fl. Jun-Sep, fr. Aug.

Forests; on shaded moist rocks or forest floor; 500-1500 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan [Vietnam].

This species is similar to Begonia palmata but differs by its glabrous tepals and ovary.