湖北沙参 hu bei sha shen

Stems 1-3 m tall, simple or with slender branches up to 70 cm, glabrous. Basal leaves ovate, base cordate. Cauline leaves (at least lower ones) petiolate; blade ovate-elliptic or lanceolate, 7-12 × 2-5 cm, papery, glabrous or abaxially sparsely hispid along veins, base cuneate or obtuse, margin serrate or doubly serrate, apex acuminate. Inflorescences with slender and long branches, forming a large lax panicle, glabrous or puberulent; pedicels slender, 1-3 cm. Hypanthium subglobose or obovoid, glabrous; calyx lobes subulate-lanceolate, 8-14 mm. Corolla white, purple, or pale blue, funnelform, 1.9-2.1 cm; lobes deltoid, 5-6 mm. Disk annular, ca. 1 mm or shorter, glabrous. Style ca. 2.1 cm, almost as long as or slightly longer than corolla. Fl. Aug-Oct.

● Meadows, scrub, cliffs; below 2400 m. Chongqing (Fengjie, Nanchuan), Guizhou (Xishui), W Hubei (Laifeng), WC Sichuan.