三花枪刀药 san hua qiang dao yao

Justicia triflora Forsskål, Fl. Aegypt.-Arab. 4. 1775; Dicliptera riparia Nees var. yunnanensis Handel-Mazzetti.

Herbs to 1 m tall, decumbent, much branched. Stems 4-angled, sulcate, strigose. Petiole 1-3 cm, pubescent; leaf blade ovate, ovate-elliptic, or oblong, (1.3-)3-10 × (1-)2-4 cm, both surfaces sparsely pubescent, secondary veins 4-7 on each side of midvein, base cuneate and decurrent onto petiole, margin minutely crenate to denticulate, apex acuminate. Cymes pedunculate in leaf axils and/or in axils of subleaflike bracts distally or in a terminal cluster, (1-)3(-5)-flowered; outer pair of bracteoles elliptic to obovate to oblanceolate, 0.7-1.7 × 0.4-0.6 cm, green toward apex, abaxially pilose, base cuneate, apex rounded to acute; inner pair of bracteoles linear-lanceolate to oblanceolate, smaller, basally connate, apex acute. Calyx ca. 6 mm, 5-lobed almost to base; lobes linear-lanceolate, ca. 5 mm. Corolla white to pink with maroon markings, ca. 1.5 cm, outside pubescent; tube basally cylindric and ca. 1 mm wide for ca. 1 cm; lip in lower position lanceolate, ca. 5 × 1.5 mm, apex slightly 2-lobed; lip in upper position oblong, ca. 5 × 3 mm. Ovary pubescent; style ca. 1.4 cm, glabrous; stigma unequally 2-lobed. Capsule ca. 9 mm, pubescent (at least distally). Seeds black, ovate in outline, ca. 2 × 2 mm, verrucose. Fl. Jul-Sep, fr. Sep-Jan. 2n = 30.

Trailsides, forests; 300-2400 m. Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal; Africa].