短齿楼梯草 duan chi lou ti cao

Elatostema ficoides Weddell var. brachyodontum Handel-Mazzetti, Symb. Sin. 7: 147. 1929.

Herbs perennial, monoecious or dioecious, 60-100 cm tall. Stems ascending or erect, branched, glabrous. Leaves alternate; nanophylls absent; stipules subulate, 1.5-2.5 × 0.1-0.2 mm, glabrous, without cystoliths; petiole 1.5-4 mm; leaf blade obliquely oblong, 7-17 × 2.5-5.5 cm, herbaceous or papery, major basal lateral veins absent and venation pinnate, both surfaces glabrous or adaxial surface sparsely puberulent; cystoliths conspicuous, dense; base with broader half cuneate or broadly cuneate, margin crenate-dentate, apex acuminate. Male inflorescences solitary, simple, 2.5-3.5 × 1.7-2.8 mm; peduncle 2.5-6 mm; receptacle pyriform when young, nearly papilionaceous when mature, 12-30 mm in diam.; bracts connate, bracteoles narrowly lanceolate. Female inflorescences solitary, 4-17 mm in diam.; peduncle ca. 1 mm; receptacle nearly square, 3-10 × 3-10 mm; bracts broadly ovate; bracteoles obovate. Male flowers 4-merous. Achenes ovoid, 6-ribbed. Fl. Jun-Sep.

Valley forests or rocks along streamsides; 500-2100 m. NW Guangxi, Guizhou, W Hubei, NW Hunan, Sichuan, NE Yunnan [N Vietnam].