翠茎冷水花 cui jing leng shui hua

Herbs, monoecious or dioecious. Stems 25-100 cm tall, succulent, but woody at base, swollen above nodes, glabrous. Stipules deciduous, brown, oblong, 7-10 mm, membranous; petiole 1.5-7 cm; leaf blade abaxially pale green, dark brown when dry, oblong-ovate, often asymmetric, unequal in size, (5-)9-16 × (2.5-)4-8 cm, 3-veined, lateral veins 6-8 each side, abaxial surface glabrous, adaxial surface sparsely pilose, base broadly cuneate or rounded, margin coarsely dentate, apex shortly acuminate or shortly caudate. Inflorescence a cyme, often 3-branched, the central branch often shorter than the laterals, 7-15 cm overall, peduncle 5-10 cm, 1 side of axis densely pubescent; male inflorescence cymose-racemose, longer than leaves; female inflorescence a lax cyme. Male flowers pedicellate, in bud ca. 1.2 mm in diam.; perianth lobes puberulent; stamens 5; rudimentary ovary minute, conic. Female perianth lobes oblong or boat-shaped; staminodes oblong. Achene ovoid, ca. 1 mm, sunken on both central surfaces, slightly oblique, verrucose on elevated surfaces by the margin, enclosed by perianth lobes subequal to achene. Fl. Jun-Aug, fr. Sep-Dec.

Moist forests, near streams; 1100-2600 m. Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, SE Xizang, Yunnan [N Vietnam].