细茎蓼 xi jing liao

Koenigia nepalensis D. Don; Persicaria minuta (Hayata) Nakai; Polygonum minutum Hayata; P. radicans Hemsley.

Herbs annual. Stems decumbent, tufted, 10-30 cm tall, slender, much branched, sparsely strigose, with reflexed hairs below nodes. Petiole 3-5 mm, strigose; leaf blade ovate or lanceolate-ovate, 1-3 × 0.5-1 cm, both surfaces densely or sparsely strigose, base cuneate, margin ciliate, apex acute; ocrea tubular, membranous, strigose, ciliate. Inflorescence axillary or terminal, capitate; peduncle strigose; bracts narrowly ovate, membranous, each 1- or 2-flowered. Pedicel ca. 1 mm, articulate at apex. Perianth white or pinkish, 5-parted; tepals elliptic; outer tepals 2, smaller; inner tepals 3, ca. 1.5 mm. Stamens 3 or 4; anthers purple. Styles 3, short; stigmas capitate. Achenes slightly exceeding persistent perianth, yellow-brown, ± shiny, ellipsoid, trigonous, ca. 2 mm, apex acute. Fl. Jul-Aug, fr. Aug-Oct.

Mountain slopes, thickets in valleys; 2000-4000 m. ?Qinghai, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, NW India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sikkim].