塔花山梗菜 ta hua shan geng cai

Lobelia pyramidalis var. wallichiana (C. Presl) Steudel; L. wallichiana (C. Presl) J. D. Hooker & Thomson; Rapuntium wallichianum C. Presl.

Herbs, shrubby, 0.4-3 m tall. Stems glabrous. Leaves alternate, subleathery, sessile or shortly petiolate; basal leaves spatulate; lower ones oblong, up to 25 cm; middle and upper ones narrowly elliptic or narrowly oblong, 12-31 × 1-4 cm, both surfaces glabrous, base attenuate, margin serrulate, apex acuminate. Racemes terminal, paniculate; flowers dense, oriented toward one side. Pedicels 0.6-2.4 cm, arched, bibracteolate or sometimes ebracteolate; bracts linear, often shorter than flowers, entire. Hypanthium campanulate or broadly ellipsoid (rarely obconic), length slightly greater than width, 2-4 × 2-4 mm, glabrous; calyx lobes subulate or linear-triangular, 8-16 × 1-1.8 mm, margin entire. Corolla white, rose, or bluish, 1.1-2.1 cm, outside glabrous, inside tube densely villous, nearly 2-lipped; lobes of upper lip linear, ca. 2/3 as long as total length of corolla; those of lower lip elliptic or lanceolate, ca. 1/3 as long as total length of corolla. Stamens connate into tube above base; filament tube glabrous; anther tube ca. 5 mm, densely villous along sutures, lower 2 anthers barbate at top. Capsule subglobose, oblate, or broadly ovoid, 3.5-6.5 mm in diam., glabrous, often pendulous. Seeds elliptic, obviously compressed, margin pale in color. Fl. Jan-May.

Grassy slopes, scrub, roadsides; 1200-2500 m. W Guangxi, SW Guizhou, Xizang (?Lhasa), Yunnan [Bhutan, N India, N Myanmar, Nepal, N Thailand].