草质千金藤 cao zhi qian jin teng

Herbaceous vines; neck of rootstock slender, prostrate, node growing fiberlike roots. Branchlets thin, glabrous. Petiole longer than leaf blade; leaf blade peltate, broadly ovate-triangular, 4-6 × 4.5-8 cm, submembranous, whitish green abaxially, glabrous on both surfaces, base subtruncate, margin entire or lobed, apex obtuse, sometimes finely mucronate, palmately 7- or 8-veined, slender, slightly prominent abaxially, fine reticulation slightly conspicuous, marginal vein well defined. Inflorescences simple umbelliform cymes, axillary; peduncle filamentous, 2-4 cm; cymelets 7 or 8, often reduced to single flowers. Male flowers: sepals 6 in 2 whorls, membranous, obovate, 1.8-2 × ca. 1.3 mm, base attenuate or sharply narrow, 1-nerved; petals 3, rhombic-rounded, 0.7-1 × ca. 1 mm; synandrium shorter than petals. Female flowers: sepals and petals (2 or)3, subequal to sepals of male flowers, petals shorter and thicker; stigma 3-lobed. Drupes red, rotund, 7-8 mm; condyle not perforate. Fl. summer.

● Roadside shrublands on slopes. Guizhou, W Hubei, Hunan, SE and SW Sichuan.