褐苞薯蓣 he bao shu yu

Tubers vertical, cylindric; cork yellowish brown; transverse section white. Stem twining to right, drying reddish brown, 0.1--0.6 cm thick, slender, hard, glabrous, often 4--8-ridged. Bulblets present. Leaves alternate basally on stem, opposite distally on stem, simple; leaf blade drying reddish brown, orbicular, ovate, or triangular to narrowly elliptic-ovate, 4--15 × 2--13 cm, papery, glabrous, basal veins 7 or 9, reticulate veins prominent, base sagittate or hastate or deeply or broadly cordate, margin entire, apex acute, acuminate, or caudate. Male spikes 2--4 together, 1--4 cm, usually in slender, axillary panicles to 40 cm; rachis obviously zigzagged. Male flowers: bracts purplish brown spotted, ovate, ca. 1/2 as long as perianth, apex acuminate; outer perianth lobes brown spotted, broadly ovate, ca. 1.2 × 0.7 mm, apex rounded; stamens 6. Female spikes solitary or paired. Female flowers: outer perianth lobes ovate; staminodes small. Capsule not reflexed, oblate, 1.5--2.5 cm; wings 1.2--2 cm wide. Seeds inserted near middle of capsule, winged all round. Fl. Jul--Dec, fr. Sep--Jan.

Mixed forests, scrub forests, mountain slopes, valleys, roadsides; 100--2000 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, S Guizhou, Hunan, S Yunnan [Vietnam].