长穗冷水花 chang sui leng shui hua

Smithiella myriantha Dunn, Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew 1920: 211. 1920; Aboriella myriantha (Dunn) Bennet; Dunniella myriantha (Dunn) Rauschert.

Herbs perennial, creeping rhizomatous, dioecious. 40-50 cm tall, stems woody at base, sparsely appressed pubescent distally. Stipules deciduous, brownish when dry, oblong, ca. 12 mm, papery; petiole 1.5-4 cm, sparsely appressed pubescent; leaf blade black-brown when dry, often broadly elliptic, often symmetric, unequal or subequal in size, 7-14 × 5-10 cm, thinly papery, 3-veined, lateral veins 5-6 each side, abaxial surface glabrous, adaxial surface sparsely pilose, cystoliths linear, distinct on both surfaces, base broadly cuneate or obtuse, margin shallowly dentate or erose-dentate, apex shortly acuminate. Male inflorescence not seen. Female spike 14-20 cm, peduncle 8-12 cm. Female flowers pedicellate, dense; perianth lobes narrowly ovate, ca. 7 mm, subapically corniculate, hirsute at apex; staminodes 5, semiorbicular. Achene broadly ovoid, ca. 1.5 mm, compressed, inconspicuously verrucose, enclosed by perianth lobes shorter than achene. Fr. Sep.

Shaded and wet places; ca. 300 m. SE Xizang [NE India].

Because it was a later homonym, Chen and Monro published a nom. nov. for this taxon: Pilea spicata C. J. Chen & A. K. Monro, Novon 17: 26. 2007 (after publication of the corresponding FOC volume).