广西绞股蓝 guang xi jiao gu lan

Stems slender, glabrous, striate and sulcate. Tendrils filiform, apex bifid. Leaves alternate, pedate, with (3-)5-7 leaflets; petiole 4-8 cm, glabrous; leaflet blade ovate-elliptic or obovate, central leaflets 3-4.5 × 1.5-2.5 cm, lateral leaflets smaller, slightly oblique, membranous, glabrous or with sparse pubescence along midrib and lateral veins on both surfaces, base cuneate, margin serrate, apex shortly acuminate or obtuse; petiolule 3-5 mm. Plants monoecious. Male flowers greenish, ca. 2 m in diam., in axillary panicles 3-5 cm; peduncle filiform, 8-15 mm, glabrous; bracteoles subulate, ca. 1.5 mm; pedicels filiform, 2-3 mm; calyx segments deltoid, ca. 0.5 × 0.4 mm; corolla segments lanceolate, 1-1.5 × ca. 0.5 mm; filaments very short; anthers ovoid. Female flowers few, cymose; peduncle slender, 6-14 mm, glabrous; pedicels 7-15 mm; calyx segments lanceolate, ca. 1 × 0.3 mm; corolla segments lanceolate, ca. 2.5 × 0.5 mm, apex caudate-acuminate; ovary 2- or 3-locular, each locule with 1 ovule; styles 2 or 3, slightly connate at base; stigmas slightly bifid. Fruit greenish, obovate-triangular or 3-angled-oblate, 4-5 × 5-6 mm, apex truncate, with persistent perianth and styles, glabrous; fruit stalk filiform, 7-18 mm. Seeds 2 or 3, cream colored, oblong or subglobose, ca. 2.5 × 2.2 mm, verruculose. Fl. Oct, fr. Nov-Dec.

● Forests on limestone mountains. Guangxi (Daxin, Longzhou).