盾基冷水花 dun ji leng shui hua

Pilea anisophylla Weddell var. khasiana J. D. Hooker; P. khasiana (J. D. Hooker) C. J. Chen.

Herbs perennial, stoloniferous, dioecious or monoecious. Stems simple, 20-50 cm tall, soft, succulent; internodes long. Stipules persistent, triangular-ovate, 1.5-2 mm, membranous; petiole strongly unequal in length, to 5 cm or absent; leaf blade abaxially pale green, adaxially green, the major blade oblong-ovate, asymmetric, strongly unequal in shape and size, sometimes reduced into alternate leaves, 5-13 × 3-6 cm, membranous, 3-veined, basal lateral veins U-shaped near origin, lateral veins many, regularly transverse, reticulate, cystoliths minute, shortly fusiform, conspicuous on both surfaces; base distinctly peltate or deeply cordate in basfixed leaves, margin entire or with a few small teeth near apex, apex caudate-acuminate; the minor blade ovate, 1.5-4 × 0.8-2 cm, base deeply cordate, almost around stem, or subtruncate, margin entire but with a few small teeth near apex, apex acute. Male inflorescence spikelike, somewhat coiled distally, few branched, 5-14 cm, flowers or glomerules loosely arranged along 1 side of axis; female inflorescence a cymose panicle, much branched, to 5 cm; bracts triangular-ovate, ca. 3 mm. Male flowers ca. 2.5 mm; pedicel thin, ca. 2 mm; perianth lobes 4, ovate, connate for ca. 1/2 length, apex caudate; stamens 4; rudimentary ovary minute, conic. Female perianth lobes unequal, abaxial lobe hooded, ca. 1/2 as long as achene, lateral 2 lobes triangular-ovate, ca. 1/2 as long as abaxial lobe, membranous. Achene brownish, ovoid, ca. 1.2 mm, slightly compressed, slightly oblique, verrucose, enclosed by persistent perianth. Fl. Jun-Aug, fr. Sep-Oct.

Shaded moist places in evergreen and broad-leaved mixed forests, near streams; 1600-2700 m. SE Xizang [Bhutan, N India, Nepal].

The type of Pilea anisophylla var. khasiana, Griffith 4515, has some leaves peltate and clearly belongs here rather than in P. anisophylla.