长穗腹水草 chang sui fu shui cao

Botryopleuron longispicatum Merrill, Philipp. J. Sci. 21: 509. 1922.

Plants rhizomatous. Stems basally woody, erect, rarely trailing, to 1 m tall, terete, apically narrowly angular, glabrous to densely with yellow short curly hairs. Leaves alternate; petiole short; leaf blade ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 8-18 X 3-9 cm, papery to leathery, glabrous or abaxially sparsely puberulent, base rounded to rarely cordate, margin deltoid dentate, apex acuminate to caudate-acuminate. Inflorescences axillary, sometimes terminal, 3-10 cm, densely glandular hairy or hispidulous (sometimes excluding corolla); bracts narrow. Calyx much shorter than corolla; lobes subulate. Corolla white or purple, 5-6 mm, slightly curved forward, glabrous or glandular hairy outside; limb actinomorphic; lobes ca. 1/4 of corolla length, narrowly triangular. Stamens conspicuously exserted; filaments basally hairy. Ovary entirely or apically glandular hairy. Capsule ovoid, ca. 3 mm, hairy when young. Seeds ovoid-globose, ca. 0.5 mm; seed coat obscurely reticulate. Fl. Jul-Sep.

* Forests, thickets; below 1000 m. Guangdong, Guangxi (Jiuwan Shan), S Hunan.

The indumentum of Veronicastrum longispicatum is variable. Plants with glabrous stems are usually glandular hairy on the inflorescence axis and other floral parts, including the outer surface of the corollas. Plants with short curly hairs on the stems are hispidulous on the inflorescence axis and various floral parts, but the outer surface of the corollas are glabrous. Other combinations are also found.