纤柄菝葜 xian bing ba qia

Heterosmilax pottingeri (Prain) F. T. Wang & T. Tang.

Vines herbaceous, becoming blackish when dried. Stem terete, rigid, slightly woody proximally, smooth. Petiole 2--5 cm, slightly compressed, narrowly winged; wings 1--2.5 cm × ca. 1 mm, apically minutely auriculate; abscission zone inconspicuous; tendrils commonly present. Leaf blade abaxially glaucous, ovate to broadly so, 10--18 × 6--17 cm, herbaceous to thinly papery, abaxially white powdery, main veins 5--7. Male inflorescence of 1 umbel, basally not prophyllate; peduncle 3--6 cm; umbel densely 40--70-flowered, base 3--4 mm in diam. Male flowers: tepals 4--5 × 1--1.5 mm; stamens slightly shorter than tepals. Female flowers unknown.

Dense forests, thickets, river banks, hillsides along valleys; 1100--1500 m. S Yunnan [Laos, Myanmar, Thailand].

Only a few sterile and fruiting specimens have been collected from China. The description of the male flowers follows Koyama (in Smitinand et al., Fl. Thailand 2: 245. 1975).