滴水珠 di shui zhu

Pinellia browniana Dunn.

Tuber depressed globose, 1-1.5 cm in diam. Leaves 1-3; petiole green or purple, 12-25 cm; leaf blade greenish or purple abaxially, green adaxially, cordate-oblong, cordate-ovate, or cordate to sagittate, 4-25 × 2-7.5 cm, base deeply cordate, apex long acuminate; primary lateral veins 9 or 10 per side; bulbils present at basal part of petiole and at base of leaf blade (apex of petiole), ovoid. Inflorescence including peduncle shorter than petioles, 3.7-18 cm. Spathe green, purplish yellow, or violet, constricted, 4-7 cm; tube 1-1.3 × 1-1.3 cm; limb erect or slightly incurved, elliptic, 3-4.5 × 1.2-3 cm, apex obtuse or acute. Spadix 9-23 cm; female zone (0.8-)1-1.2 cm, adnate to spathe; female flowers densely arranged; pistil ca. 2.5 mm; ovary ellipsoid-oblong, ca. 2 × 1 mm; style short, ca. 0.3 × 0.5 mm; stigma disciform, 0.6-0.7 mm in diam.; sterile zone between female and male flowers 7-8 mm; male zone 5-7 mm; thecae elongate, ca. 1.8 mm, opening by a slit; appendix violet-green, tortuous, 6.5-20 cm. Berries ovoid. Fl. Mar-Jun, fr. May-Sep. 2n = 26*, 72*.

● Forests, along streams, moist meadows, cliffs, rock debris; below 800 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang.

Pinellia cordata is characterized by its small size and by having bulbils at both the petiole and leaf blade bases.

The poisonous tubers are used for detoxifying viper bites, for treating lumbago and allergic reactions, and externally for treating traumatic injuries, abscesses, neck lymphosarcoma, mastitis, and also for draining pus.