头花砂仁 tou hua sha ren

Plants 1.5--2 m tall. Leaf sheath green, glabrous; ligule 2-lobed, 1--1.4 cm, leathery, pubescent; petiole 12--35 cm, glabrous; leaf blade lanceolate, 60--100 × 16--18 cm, adaxially glabrous, abaxially densely silvery sericeous, base attenuate, apex shortly acuminate. Spikes 1 or 2, subcapitate, 5.5--7 × 4--6 cm; peduncle 5--12 cm, scalelike sheaths glabrous; bracts 2- or 3-flowered, early deciduous together with bracteoles. Calyx red, ca. 2.4 cm × 5 mm, pubescent, apex 3-toothed. Corolla tube red, ca. 2.2 cm × 3--4 mm, glabrous; lobes striped with purple-red, lanceolate, central one ca. 3.2 cm × 7 mm, apex corniculate, lateral ones obtuse at apex. Lateral staminodes yellow, linear, 4--6 mm. Labellum yellow with purple-red stripes at center, elliptic, 4--4.4 × 2.2--2.5 cm, margin crisped. Filament yellow, ca. 1.5 cm; anther light red, ca. 1.2 cm; connective appendage light red, 2-lobed, ca. 2 × 7 mm. Ovary ca. 6 mm, densely pubescent. Capsule purple-red, ellipsoid, 2.5--2.8 × 1.5--1.8 cm, 9-winged, apex with persistent calyx; wings crisped. Fr. Oct.

* Forests; ca. 900 m. W Yunnan (Yingjiang Xian).