喙果绞股蓝 hui guo jiao gu lan

Trirostellum yixingense Z. P. Wang & Q. Z. Xie, Acta Phytotax. Sin. 19: 483. 1981; T. yixingense var. trichocarpum J. N. Ding.

Plants to over 10 Stem slender, angular-sulcate, villous only at nodes. Leaves membranous, pedately 5-7-foliolate; petiole 3-6 cm; leaflets elliptic, median leaflets 4-8 cm, lateral leaflets smaller, veins pubescent, base cuneate, margin crenate, apex acuminate; petiolule ca. 5 mm. Tendrils filiform, simple. Male flowers in panicle; rachis 9-12 cm, sparsely pubescent; calyx segments elliptic-lanceolate, 1-1.5 × ca. 0.5 mm, apex obtuse; corolla pale green; segments ovate-lanceolate, 2-2.5 mm, caudate-acuminate; filaments connected; anthers ca. 0.2 mm. Female flowers fasciculate in axils of leaves; calyx and corolla as in male flowers; ovary subglobose, 1.5-2 mm in diam., sparsely puberulent; styles 3, 2.5-3 mm; stigmas half-moon-shaped, margin dentate; staminodes 5, subulate. Capsule campanulate, ca. 5 × 8 mm, glabrous, apex truncate. Seeds broadly cordate, ca. 3 × 4 mm. Fl. Aug-Sep, fr. Sep-Oct.

● Forests, thickets; below 100 m. Anhui, S Jiangsu, Zhejiang.

One of us (Jeffrey) treats Gynostemma laxiflorum as a synonym of this species.