西藏地不容 xi zang di bu rong

Cissampelos glabra Roxburgh, Fl. Ind., ed. 1832, 3: 840. 1832.

Herbaceous vines. Stems striate, glabrous, hollow. Petiole relatively slender, 5-15 cm or longer, geniculate and thickened at base; leaf blade narrowly peltate, broadly ovate or rotund, 4-14 × 4-12 cm or slightly longer, papery or membranous, abaxially pale, both surfaces glabrous, base rounded, apical margin horned, palmately veined, 5 veins upward and raised abaxially. Male inflorescences axillary or on leafless old stems; peduncle 4-8 cm; umbellet rays usually 6, filamentous. Male flowers: sepals 6, outer 3 linear-oblong, 2-2.5 × ca. 0.5 mm, inner whorl obspatulate, 2-2.8 × 0.5-0.7 mm; petals 3, thicker, obspatulate, ca. 1.8 × 0.8 mm, with granular glands above middle part, apex often 3-lobed; synandrium 1.5-2 mm. Female flowers unknown. Infructescences with condensed umbellet pedicels ca. 1.5 cm; fruiting pedicels 0.6-0.8 mm. Drupes obovate, flattened; endocarp ornamented abaxially with rows of 20-25 transverse ridges; condyle perforate. Fl. Jun-Jul.

Shrublands. S Xizang (Gyirong, Nyalam) [Bangladesh, E, NW, and S India, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand].

Stephania glabra is regarded as endangered in some parts of its range because of its overuse as a medicinal plant (Chhetri et al., Curr. Sci. 89: 267. 2005).