6. Thladiantha sessilifolia Handel-Mazzetti, Symb. Sin. 7: 1061. 1936.
短柄赤瓟 duan bing chi bao
Vines, herbaceous. Roots tuberous. Stem and branches slender, at first sparsely puberulent, glabrescent. Petiole very short, 5-15(-40) mm, pubescent or subglabrous; leaf blade lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, 8-16 × 2-4.5 cm, papery, abaxially densely pubescent, adaxially scabrous, subglabrous, base cordate, margin sparsely dentate, apex acuminate; sinus closed, basal lateral veins not along blade base. Tendrils filiform, usually simple. Male flowers 2-5 in pedunculate short raceme, sometimes solitary; bract ovate, ca. 2 mm; pedicels slender, 5-10 mm, pubescent or subglabrous; calyx tube campanulate, ca. 3 × 5 mm, sparsely pubescent; segments lanceolate, ca. 5 × 1.5 mm, 3-veined, apex subulate-acuminate; corolla segments ovate, ca. 15 × 7-8 mm, often 5-veined, apex acuminate; stamens inserted on limb of calyx tube; filaments ca. 3 mm; anthers elliptic, 2-3 mm; rudimentary ovary yellow, semiglobose. Female flowers solitary; pedicel slender, 2-3 cm, puberulent or subglabrous; calyx and corolla as in male flowers; ovary oblong, 15-22 × 5-10 mm, densely yellow-brown villous, apex attenuate; style slender, 3-fid; stigma enlarged, reniform, 2-lobed; staminodes 2-3 mm. Fruit ovoid-oblong. Fl. May-Aug, fr. Aug-Nov.
● Thickets or forests on mountain slopes, wetlands on ditch sides. SW Sichuan, Yunnan.
The tuberous roots are used medicinally.
