兰嵌马蓝 lan qian ma lan

Parachampionella rankanensis (Hayata) Bremekamp.

Herbs 15-30 cm tall, rarely branched, isophyllous. Stems slender, 4-angled, procumbent, usually rooting at basal nodes, sulcate, bifariously pubescent. Petiole 0.5-1.5 cm, sulcate, bifariously pubescent or subglabrous; leaf blade ovate to elliptic, (0.5-)1-3.5 × 0.5-1.8 cm, glabrous or sparsely hirsute along veins, secondary veins 3 or 4 on each side of midvein, base cuneate to subrounded, margin serrate, apex acute. Flowers solitary in leaf axils. Bracts absent; bracteoles linear-spatulate, 6-9 × 0.7-0.9 mm, sparsely hirsute, apex obtuse. Calyx 6-9 mm, slightly hirsute, 2-lipped, lower lip 2-lobed almost to base, upper lip unequally 3-lobed; lobes linear, margin ciliate. Corolla purple with white stripes, funnel-shaped, ca. 2 cm, outside glabrous, inside glabrous except for a few trichomes at base of filaments and adaxially in throat; tube basally cylindric and ca. 1.5 mm wide for ca. 2.5 mm then gradually widened to ca. 2 cm at mouth; lobes oblong, ca. 3 × 4 mm, subequal, apex emarginate. Stamens 4, longer pair slightly exserted; filaments glabrous, shorter pair ca. 3 mm, longer pair ca. 6 mm; anther thecae oblong, ca. 2 mm, basally divergent; pollen type 11. Ovary ellipsoid, glabrous; style ca. 2 cm, basally sparsely gland-tipped pilose. Capsule fusiform, 1-1.2 cm, glabrous, 4-seeded. Seeds ovate in outline, ca. 2.5 × 1.5 mm, lenticular, densely covered with long appressed trichomes. Fl. May-Sep.

● Moist places in ravines; 600-1700 m. Taiwan.

Strobilanthes rankanensis is a distinctive, superficially isolated species because of the unique combination of trailing habit, 2-lipped calyx, and globose echinulate pollen.