蛇莲 she lian

Tuber oblate-spheroid. Stem and branchlets slender, nodes densely pubescent. Tendrils 8-24 cm. Leaves pedately 5-9-foliolate; petiole 1.6-4 cm; leaflets oblong-lanceolate to broadly lanceolate; median leaflets 7-16 × 2.5-4 cm. Male flowers in a large dichotomous cyme, 5-25(-45) cm (varying in different subspecies); calyx segments ovate-triangular, ca. 4 × 3 mm; corolla pale yellow-green, bowl-shaped, 7-15 mm in diam.; segments broadly ovate, apex acuminate. Female flowers usually in a short inflorescence; ovary spheroid to ovoid, 3-5 mm. Fruit spheroid to ovoid, 2-3 cm in diam.; fruiting pedicel 1-9 mm, with distinct articulation. Seeds lenticular, 8-9 mm in diam., unwinged. Fl. May-Sep, fr. Jul-Nov. 2n = 28*.

● Broad-leaved forests; 400-2400 m. E and NE Guangxi, S and SE Guizhou, S Hunan, SE, SW, and WC Yunnan.

Lower Taxa

• Hemsleya sphaerocarpa subsp. megathyrsa (C. Y. Wu) D. Z. Li
• Hemsleya sphaerocarpa subsp. sphaerocarpa
• Hemsleya sphaerocarpa subsp. wenshanensis (A. M. Lu ex C. Y. Wu & Z. L. Chen) D. Z. Li