小齿冷水花 xiao chi leng shui hua

Herbs perennial, stoloniferous, glabrous, dioecious or monoecious. Stems 30-40 cm tall, succulent, swollen between nodes. Stipules subpersistent, triangular, 1-2 mm, membranous; petiole unequal in length, 1.5-6 cm; leaf blade narrowly ovate to ovate-lanceolate, asymmetric, unequal in size, 5-13 × 2-5 cm, membranous, 3-veined, lateral veins many, transverse, reticulate, external secondary veins anastomosing and slightly thickened by margin, cystoliths finely fusiform, often conspicuous on both surfaces, base obtuse-rounded, often auriculate, margin entire or shallowly 2 serrulate by apex, apex caudate-acuminate. Inflorescences solitary; male inflorescence distal, a cymose panicle, 9-13 cm overall, peduncle 6-8 cm; female cymes proximal, 3.5-8 cm overall, peduncle 2.5-5 cm. Male flowers subsessile, in bud ca. 1 mm; perianth lobes 4; stamens 4; rudimentary ovary minute. Female flowers subsessile, ca. 0.7 mm; perianth lobes connate at base, subequal, abaxial lobe larger, subapically corniculate; staminodes 3, conspicuous, scale-like, rhombic-oblong. Achene brownish, ovoid, ca. 1 mm, compressed, slightly oblique at apex, verrucose. Fl. Oct, fr. Nov-Dec.

* Broad-leaved forests, shaded wet places by streams, near streams; 400-1000 m. Hainan.

This species is similar to Pilea melastomoides, but that species has stems to 2 m tall, leaf margins serrate or crenate, and achenes with a raised ring.