大盖球子草 da gai qiu zi cao

Peliosanthes arisanensis Hayata; P. delavayi Franchet; P. tashiroi Hayata.

Stem ca. 1 cm. Leaves 2--5; petiole 20--30 cm; leaf blade lanceolate-oblong, 15--25 × 5--6 cm, with 5--9 main veins. Scape 6--10 cm. Inflorescence a raceme, 9--25 cm; bracts lanceolate to lanceolate-oblong, 6--15 mm, membranous. Flowers solitary; pedicel 5--6 mm; bracteole 1, 3--5 mm. Perianth purple, 5.5--12 mm in diam.; tube ca. 2 mm, proximally adnate to ovary; lobes deltoid-ovate, ca. 4 mm. Corona undulate apically; anthers 0.5--1 mm. Style short; stigma 3-lobed. Seeds subglobose, ca. 1 cm. Fl. Apr--Jun, fr. Jul--Sep. 2 n = 36*.

* Dense tropical forests, evergreen broad-leaved forests, bamboo forests and thickets, scrub, shady and humid cliffs; 400--1800 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, NE Sichuan, Taiwan, SE Yunnan [?Vietnam].

This species probably also occurs in Vietnam: one locality is on the border between Yunnan and Vietnam. The plants here identified as Peliosanthes macrostegia were treated by Handel-Mazzetti (Symb. Sin. 7: 1219. 1936) as P. macrophylla Wallich ex Baker.