柔弱母草 rou ruo mu cao

Annuals, less than 10 cm tall. Roots fibrous. Stems erect, densely hirsute, branched; branches often spreading at an angle of 45°, densely hirsute. Leaves sessile or petiole short winged; leaf blade thin, narrowly ovate to narrowly ovate-elliptic, 1-1.8 X 0.5-1.2 cm, hairy, abaxially light green, adaxially dark green, margin shallowly obtuse serrate, 8-12-toothed; veins convex. Flowers axillary and solitary or in short terminal racemes; bracts ovate. Pedicel ca. 2 cm, hairy. Calyx ca. 5 mm, lobed to base; lobes lanceolate, densely hirsute, apex acuminate, midrib and reticulate veins conspicuous. Corolla ca. 1 cm; lower lip slightly longer than upper lip, 3-lobed; upper lip obscurely 2-lobed. Fertile stamens 2, posterior; abortive stamens 2, anterior, filaments with a spurlike appendage. Ovary glabrous. Stigma lamellate. Capsule narrowly ovoid to ellipsoid, somewhat shorter than persistent calyx. Seeds brown, ovoid.

* Mountain slopes; ca. 700 m. Guangxi (Longzhou Xian).