弥勒苣苔属 mi le ju tai shu

Herbs, perennial, rhizomatous, stemless. Leaves many, basal; leaf blade pubescent to woolly, base cuneate to broadly cuneate. Inflorescences lax, axillary, few-flowered cymes; bracts 2, opposite. Calyx actinomorphic, 5-sect from base; segments equal. Corolla purple, zygomorphic, inside minutely puberulent on lobes; tube funnelform-tubular, not swollen, longer than limb, 3-5 mm in diam.; limb 2-lipped; adaxial lip 4-lobed; over 2 X longer than abaxial lip; abaxial lip undivided, apex rounded to acute. Stamens 4, adnate to corolla tube above middle, included; anthers basifixed, coherent in pairs by adaxial surfaces, thecae parallel, not confluent, dehiscing longitudinally; connective not projecting; staminode 1, adnate to adaxial side of corolla tube. Disc ringlike. Ovary linear, 1-loculed; placentas 2, parietal, projecting inward, 2-cleft. Stigma 1, terminal, depressed capitate, undivided. Fruit and seeds unknown.

* One species: endemic to China.

Lower Taxon

• Paraisometrum mileense W. T. Wang