银背藤 yin bei teng

Convolvulus mollis N. L. Burman, Fl. Indica 44. t. 17. 1768; Argyreia championii Bentham; A. obtecta (Choisy) C. B. Clarke; C. sericeus Linnaeus; Lettsomia championii (Bentham) Bentham & J. D. Hooker; ?Rivea obtecta Choisy.

Lianas; axial parts ± densely appressed whitish or pale yellow pilose; young parts densely so. Stems twining, to 10 m tall. Petiole 1-6 cm; leaf blade elliptic to oblong, sometimes ovate or lanceolate, 4-15 X 1.5-7 cm, tapering at both ends, abaxially densely silvery white or dull yellow sericeous-tomentose, adaxially sparsely strigose or glabrous, apex acute or obtuse; lateral veins 9-18(-20) pairs. Cymes 1-5-flowered; peduncle 0.5-2.5(-4.5) cm; bracts early deciduous, obovate-oblong, apex obtuse. Pedicel 0.5-1.5 cm. Sepals subequal, densely sericeous-lanose abaxially, enlarged in fruit; outer 2 broadly elliptic, 8-10 mm, apex obtuse; inner 3 oblong, slightly emarginate. Corolla pale violet or pink, funnelform to campanulate, 5-6.5 cm, midpetaline bands appressed pubescent outside; limb ± entire, undulate. Stamens and pistil much shorter than corolla; filaments pilose basally. Ovary glabrous, 4-loculed. Berry red or orange-red, subglobose, 8-10 mm in diam. Seeds 4 or fewer, black, ca. 5 mm. Fl. Aug-Oct, fr. Nov-Feb.

Dense forests in valleys; 300-1800 m. Hainan [Cambodia, India (Andaman Islands), Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam]

The name Argyreia obtusifolia Loureiro (Fl. Cochinch. 134. 1790) was misapplied for A. mollis in Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. and other regional floras, mostly because the protologue is too incomplete to know for certain to what taxon it applies. Loureiro's generic description, however, states explicitly that the corolla is deeply 5-parted and with oblong and reflexed lobes. That description clearly does not apply to A. mollis, which has a funnelform-campanulate, subentire corolla. Material from peninsular Malaysia, Thailand, and lower Myanmar, which is conspecific with that from S China, was recognized by Van Ooststroom and Hoogland (Fl. Malesiana 4: 496. 1953) as A. mollis. When not in flower, A. mollis can easily be confused with A. acuta Loureiro, but the latter has a fruiting calyx with navicular outer sepals corrugate or recurved at the apex, whereas A. mollis has semiglobose or bowl-shaped outer sepals with a uniform curvature to the apex.