中州凤仙花 zhong zhou feng xian hua

Plants annual, 40-60 cm tall, glabrous or subglabrous. Stem erect, green or becoming purple in lower part, branched, sparsely glandular in upper part, below nodes dilated. Leaves alternate; petiole short, 5-15 mm; leaf blade sometimes becoming purple abaxially, ovate or elliptic-ovate, 8-15 × 2.5-6.5 cm, with 1 or 2 pairs of basal glands, midvein and lateral veins abaxially prominent, lateral veins 7-11 pairs, base broadly cuneate or subrounded, margin serrate, teeth mucronulate, apex acuminate or caudate-acuminate. Inflorescences in upper leaf axils, 2- or 3-flowered; peduncles conspicuously shorter than leaves. Pedicels 0.5-1.5 cm, slender, slightly elongate at fruiting, bracteate above middle; bracts persistent, recurved, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 4-5 mm, 3-5-veined, apex acute. Flowers pink-purple, 2-2.5 cm. Lateral sepals 2, obliquely ovate or ovate, 7-8 × 3-4 mm, abaxial midvein narrowly winged, rostellate. Lower sepal saccate, 2.5-3 cm; mouth oblique, ca. 1.5 cm wide, tip acute, base abruptly narrowed into a recurved, 2-lobed spur 6-7 mm. Upper petal suborbicular, 7-8 mm in diam., apex acute, abaxial midvein carinate; lateral united petals shortly clawed, 1.8-2 cm, 2-lobed; basal lobes oblong; distal lobes dolabriform; abaxial auricle inflexed, sublunar. Filaments linear, ca. 5 mm; anthers acute. Ovary fusiform, ca. 5 mm, rostellate. Capsule linear-cylindric, 2.5-3 cm. Seeds many, black-brown, oblong, ca. 4 mm, rugose. Fl. Aug, fr. Sep.

● Forest margins, shaded moist places in valleys; 1200-1500 m. Henan, S Shanxi.