绣球茜草 xiu qiu qian cao

Shrubs, 0.3-2.5 m tall; branches rather stout, subterete to angled, puberulent to pilosulous sometimes becoming glabrescent with age. Petiole 0.7-2.5 cm, pilosulous or puberulent; leaf blade drying papery to leathery, narrowly lanceolate, narrowly elliptic, or oblanceolate, 7-23 × 1-6 cm, both surfaces puberulent to strigillose with pubescence denser on principal veins, sometimes becoming glabrescent with age, abaxially epidermis often with apparently enlarged cells, base acute to cuneate, margins often thinly revolute, apex acuminate, acute, or rarely obtuse; secondary veins 11-17 pairs, extending to very close to margins, with intersecondary veins often very well developed; stipules ovate or triangular, 6-8 × 8-10 mm, strigillose to puberulent, acute or often bifid for up to 1/3. Inflorescences 8-12 × 3-5 cm, moderately to densely strigillose or pilosulous; peduncle 2-6 cm; branched portion 2-4 × 3-5 cm; bracts triangular, 1-1.5 mm, petaloid bracts similar to calycophylls; pedicels to 3 mm. Calyx sparsely to densely puberulent or strigillose; ovary portion obconic, 1-1.5 mm; limb deeply lobed; lobes deltoid, 0.3-0.5 mm; petaloid calycophyll white to cream, elliptic-oblong to lanceolate, 2-5.5 × 1-2.3 cm, puberulent to glabrescent, obtuse to rounded, with 3 longitudinal veins and well-developed reticulate venation, with stipe 0.8-1.5 cm. Corolla outside sparsely to densely pilosulous or puberulent; tube 8-10 mm; lobes triangular-ovate, ca. 2 mm, acute to obtuse. Capsule 3-5 mm in diam. including beak ca. 1 mm, smooth, pilosulous to glabrescent; seeds 0.6-1 mm in diam. Fl. and fr. Apr-Nov.

● Thickets or forests in ravines; 200-900 m. Guangdong.

In conservation status, this species has been considered seriously threatened due primarily to habitat destruction (Ge et al., Conservation Genet. 3: 351-362. 2002; Chiang et al., Molec. Biol. Evol. 19: 1367-1375. 2002).