马鞭草 ma bian cao

Herbs, annual or weakly perennial, erect, 30-140 cm tall, pubescent to subglabrous. Leaves narrowed into a petiole 0.3-4 cm; leaf blade ovate, obovate, or oblong, 2-8 X 1-5 cm, papery, hirsute especially on abaxial veins, margin coarsely dentate or cut to sometimes deeply pinnatifid or lobed. Spikes long, slender; bracts as long as calyx. Calyx 1-4 mm, pubescent, glandular. Corolla blue to pink, (2-)4-8 mm, pubescent. Ovary glabrous. Nutlets oblong, ca. 2 mm. Fl. and fr. Jul-Oct. 2n = 14.

Grassy places on mountain slopes; 100-1800 m. Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xinjiang, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [worldwide weed in temperate zones and tropics].