棋盘花 qi pan hua

Melanthium sibiricum Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 339. 1753; Anticlea sibirica (Linnaeus) Kunth.

Bulb cylindric, rarely to ovoid, slender, with blackish brown coat. Leaves (10--)13--35 cm × 2--8(--10) mm, glabrous, base tapering to sheath, apex obtuse. Scape (10--)30--50 cm, usually with 1 or 2 slightly smaller leaves in proximal part. Inflorescence usually racemose, less often 1- or 2-branched and paniculate, laxly 4--12-flowered; bracts linear-lanceo-late to ovate. Pedicel 0.7--2 cm. Flowers erect. Tepals greenish white, obovate-oblong or oblong, 6--9 × 2.2--2.6(--4) mm, spreading at anthesis, each with a large, yellowish green, obcordate gland nearly at base. Filaments glabrous, gradually widened toward base; anthers reniform. Ovary semi-inferior, conical, ca. 4 mm. Styles recurved, extending beyond perianth after anthesis. Capsule conical, ca. 1.5 cm. Seeds suboblong, ca. 5 mm. Fl. Jul, fr. Aug--Sep. 2 n = 32.

Forests, damp places in thickets, grassy slopes; near sea level to 2600 m. Hebei, Heilongjiang, Hubei, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Shanxi, Sichuan [Japan (Rebun and Rishiri Islands), Korea, Mongolia, Russia].