花脉蝇子草 hua mai ying zi cao

Melandrium multifurcatum (C. L. Tang) Kozhevnikov.

Herbs perennial, 30--40 cm tall, rhizomatous. Stems sparsely clustered, ascending, simple, sparsely villous. Leaves elliptic-lanceolate or oblanceolate, 5--8 cm × 8--12 mm, both surfaces glabrous, margin sparsely ciliate, 3-veined at base, midvein prominent, base cuneate, apex acuminate. Cymes racemiform. Pedicel 2--3 cm, slender, densely pubescent; bracts lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, densely pubescent, margin ciliate. Calyx campanulate, 1.5--1.8 cm × 6--8 mm, densely villous, sparsely glandular hairy; longitudinal veins violet, veins usually reticulate. Calyx teeth triangular-ovate, 3--4 mm, margin membranous, ciliate. Androgynophore ca. 3 mm, villous. Petals violet, ca. 2 cm; claws pale yellowish green, cuneate, ca. 1.2 cm, glabrous at base, auricles orbicular; limbs exserted beyond calyx, deeply 4-lobed; medial lobes round, shallowly 2-lobed or laciniate; lateral lobes linear, small; coronal scales broad, nearly flabellate, ca. 2 mm, with small irregular teeth. Stamens slightly exserted, 1--1.3 cm; filaments glabrous. Styles (4 or)5, included or slightly exserted. Capsule ellipsoid, 1--1.2 cm, shorter than calyx, usually 5-toothed. Seeds brown, reniform, ca. 1 mm, with prominent tubercles. Fl. Aug, fr. Aug--Sep.

* Mountains; 2600--3200 m. S Xizang (Cona Xian).

Species nos. 81–90 belong to an informal group that approximates to Silene sect. Odontopetalae Schischkin ex Chowdhuri. The Chinese species fall neatly into two distinct subgroups corresponding to the first lead in the key: those with broad, inflated corollas, similar to the winged-seeded species of the “Physolychnis” group above, and those of the S. delavayi group.

Silene dentipetala H. Chuang (in C. Y. Wu et al., Fl. Yunnan. 6: 836. 1995) probably also belongs to the “Odontopetalae” group. It was described as differing from S. gracilenta in having more flowers, shorter and irregularly toothed petal limbs, and fimbriate seeds.