曲茎兰嵌马蓝 qu jing lan qian ma lan

Parachampionella flexicaulis (Hayata) C. F. Hsieh & T. C. Huang; Strobilanthes fauriei Benoist; S. glandulifera Hayata; S. prionophylla Hayata; Triaenacanthus flexicaulis (Hayata) C. F. Hsieh & T. C. Huang.

Subshrubs to 1 m tall, much branched, anisophyllous. Stems 4-angled, winged, glabrous. Petiole 0.2-2.5 cm, glabrous or sparsely pubescent; leaf blade ovate, ovate-lanceolate, or ovate-elliptic, 3.5-18 × 1.8-5 cm, abaxially glaucous, adaxially sparsely pilose to subglabrous, secondary veins 4-6 on each side of midvein, base narrowly cuneate and decurrent onto petiole, margin serrate to crenate, apex acuminate. Inflorescences axillary or terminal, spikes, ca. 3 cm, few flowered; rachis often zigzag, glabrous to gland-tipped pilose; bracts persistent, basally merging into leaves, ovate to suborbicular, and shortly petiolate, apically becoming ovate to oblanceolate and sessile, 4-15 × 2-10 mm, apically diminishing in size, glabrous, apex obtuse; bracteoles linear, ca. 4 × 0.5 mm at anthesis but accrescent to ca. 14 × 1 mm, glabrous or sparsely gland-tipped pilose. Pedicel to 1 mm or flowers sessile. Calyx 0.9-1.1 cm at anthesis, strongly accrescent to ca. 3.2 cm in fruit, 2-lipped; lower lip 2-lobed almost to base, lobes linear; upper lip 3-lobed to middle, lobes linear, ca. 6 × 1 mm at anthesis, margin ciliate with gland-tipped trichomes but soon glabrescent, and apex obtuse. Corolla blue to purple, campanulate, ca. 4 cm, outside glabrous or glabrescent, inside glabrous except for trichomes retaining style; tube basally cylindric and ca. 4 mm wide for ca. 1.5 cm then gradually widened to ca. 1.5 cm at mouth; limb slightly 2-lipped; lower lip ca. 1 cm, 3-lobed, center lobe orbicular, ca. 6 × 7 mm, base contracted, and apex emarginate, lateral lobes orbicular, somewhat oblique, and apex emarginate; upper lip 2-lobed, lobes semiorbicular and ca. 5 × 8 mm. Stamens 4; shorter filament pair ca. 2 mm, glabrous; longer filament pair ca. 7 mm, hirsute; anther thecae oblong-linear, ca. 3.5 × 1 mm; pollen type 3. Ovary obovoid, glabrous; style filiform, ca. 3 cm, pubescent with gland-tipped trichomes; stigma subulate. Capsule linear-oblong, 1.6-2 cm, glabrous, 4-seeded. Seeds oblong-ovate in outline, ca. 3.5 × 2 mm, densely covered with appressed trichomes. Fl. Sep-Nov, fr. Feb. 2n = 30.

Streamsides in forests; 200-2300 m. Taiwan [Japan (Ryukyu Islands)].

Strobilanthes tashiroi Hayata (S. flexicaulis var. tashiroi (Hayata) Yamazaki) is endemic to the Ryukyu Islands (K. Iwatsuki et al., eds., Fl. Japan 3a: 391. 1993).