多花繁缕 duo hua fan lu

Stellaria florida Fischer ex de Candolle var. angustifolia Maximowicz.

Herbs perennial. Stems nearly tufted, erect, quadrangular, (5--)10--20 cm tall, slender, internodes shorter than leaves, glabrous except sparsely shortly ciliate basally. Leaves linear, 2--3(--4.5) cm × 1--2 mm, both surfaces glabrous, midvein conspicuous, abaxially raised, adaxially retuse, base slightly narrowed, apex acute. Flowers 1--8, in sparse terminal cymes; bracts lanceolate, ca. 5 mm, margin membranous. Pedicel erect, 1.5--4(--6) cm. Sepals 5, lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 4--5.5 mm, 3-veined, apex acute. Petals 5, 1.5--2 × as long as sepals, 2-cleft nearly to base. Stamens 10; filaments slender. Styles 3, 2--3 mm. Capsule yellow, ellipsoid to ovoid-orbicular, slightly shorter than or subequaling persistent sepals. Seeds brown, compressed, orbicular-reniform, ca. 1 mm, tuberculate. Fl. May--Jun, fr. Jun--Aug. 2n = 26.

Montane rocks; ca. 1800 m. Hubei [Japan].

Stellaria montioides (Edgeworth & J. D. Hooker) Ghazanfar (Fl. Pakistan 175: 25. 1986, based on S. graminea Linnaeus var. montioides Edgeworth & J. D. Hooker in J. D. Hooker, Fl. Brit. India 1: 233. 1874) may also key out near S. filicaulis and S. nipponica . It is an alpine plant with glabrous stems, linear leaves with a raised abaxial midvein, and solitary flowers with petals about as long as the sepals. Although Ghazanfar (loc. cit.) gave the taxon as occurring in W Xizang (probably referring to territory now in Pakistan), the present authors have no further information on the occurrence of this species in China.