铁轴草 tie zhou cao

Teucrium fortunei Bentham; T. fulvoaureum H. Léveillé; T. fulvum Hance; T. kouytchouense H. Léveillé.

Subshrubs. Stems erect, 30-110 cm tall, subterete, densely golden yellow, rusty villous, purple villous, or upwardly strigose. Petiole absent or to 1 cm; leaf blade ovate to oblong-ovate, 3-7.5 × 1.5-4 cm, adaxially appressed pubescent, abaxially gray tomentose to densely pubescent except villous or strigose on veins, base subcordate to truncate, margin double serrate to double crenate, apex obtuse to acute. Spikes on main stems and branches of apical 1/3 of plant, in panicles; verticillasters, usually close together; bracts 4-8 × 2-4 mm, sparsely villous, apically acuminate to caudate-acuminate. Calyx campanulate, 4-5 × 2 mm, villous or pubescent outside, pilose annulate at throat; middle tooth of upper lip obovate-oblate, lateral teeth triangular, teeth of lower lip lanceolate. Corolla reddish, 1.2-1.3 cm, sparsely pubescent and yellowish glandular outside, white puberulent on lower part of limb inside, tube ca. 1/3 as long as corolla; middle lobe of limb obovate-subcircular, less than 1/2 as long as limb, lateral lobes ovate-oblong, posterior lobes reflexed. Nutlets dark brown, obovate-subglobose, ca. 1 mm, netted on back. Fl. Jul-Sep.

Open slopes, forests, thickets; 400-2400 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guizhou, Hunan, Jiangxi, Yunnan [India, Indonesia (Sumatra), N Myanmar, Nepal]

Used medicinally.