海南耳草 hai nan er cao

Oldenlandia hainanensis Chun, Sunyatsenia 1: 311. 1934, based on Hedyotis oligantha Merrill, Philipp. J. Sci. 23: 266. 1923, not Merrill (1921).

Shrubs, erect, to 30 cm tall; stems terete, densely puberulent to pilosulous. Leaves subsessile to petiolate; petiole to 2 mm, densely puberulent to pilosulous; blade drying papery, subelliptic, broadly elliptic, or ovate, 1-2.5 × 0.8-1.5 cm, adaxially glabrous, abaxially densely puberulent at least along midrib, base obtuse to cuneate, margins sometimes thinly revolute when dry, apex obtuse, acute, or shortly acuminate; secondary veins ca. 3 pairs but indistinct; stipules fused to petiole bases, triangular or ovate, ca. 0.5 mm, puberulent to pilosulous, with 3 short narrow lobes. Inflorescences terminal and also in axils of uppermost leaves, capitate or 2-flowered, sessile. Flowers sessile. Calyx sparsely puberulent; hypanthium portion ovoid, ca. 2 mm; limb lobed nearly to base; lobes 5, narrowly lanceolate, 3-3.5 mm. Corolla blue or white, funnelform, outside glabrous; tube ca. 8 mm, bearded in throat; lobes 5, oblong-lanceolate, ca. 4 mm. Anthers 5, included, ca. 1.8 mm. Stigmas not seen. Fruit not seen. Fl. May-Jun.

● Dense forests. Hainan (Ding’an).

The protologue did not describe the fruit; these were described by W. C. Ko (in FRPS 71(1): 62. 1999, modified to format here) as "Fruit capsular, globose, laterally flattened, ca. 2 mm in diam., sparsely hispidulous, septicidally dehiscent then loculicidally dehiscent, with persistent calyx lobes" with the same fruiting period as the flowers. However, this description exactly matches the fruit of a group of plants that have been included in Hedyotis hainanensis but do not match the type and are provisionally separated here.