石蜈蚣草 shi wu gong cao

Scutellaria sessilifolia f. ramiflora C. Y. Wu & S. Chow; S. sessilifolia f. terminalis C. Y. Wu & S. Chow.

Herbs perennial, rhizomatous, stoloniferous. Stems ascending, trailing at base, 50 cm tall, slightly winged, glabrous, unbranched, base leafless. Leaves sessile or subsessile, ovate, 1.9-3.5 × 0.9-2 cm, ± leathery, adaxially sparsely strigose, abaxially sometimes glabrous, base rounded to slightly amplexicaul or truncate, margin subentire, obscurely 3- or 4-crenate, or remotely acutely serrate, apex acute to caudate-acuminate. Racemes 3-7-flowered, pendent, secund, almost 2 × as long as leaves, in axils of mid stem leaves, sometimes also terminal; bracts ovate-subulate, glandular pubescent. Pedicel ca. 2.5 mm, glandular pubescent. Calyx ca. 2 mm, ca. 3.5 mm in fruit, slightly glandular pubescent; scutellum ca. 1.5 mm, to 3.5 mm in fruit. Corolla purplish to purple red, base white, ca. 1.8 cm, sparsely glandular puberulent outside, glabrous inside; tube base saccate-spurred, spur to 2 mm, throat to 3.5 mm wide; middle lobe of lower lip triangular-ovate, ca. 5 mm wide, apex rounded. Fl. Jun-Aug, fr. Aug-Sep.

* Subtropical valley forests, thickets, wet rocky mountain slopes; 800-2600 m. Sichuan.