小花蛇根草 xiao hua she gen cao

Ophiorrhiza japonica Blume var. kuroiwae (Makino) Ohwi; O. kotoensis Hatusima; O. liukiuensis Hayata; O. parviflora Hayata (1912), not Reinwardt ex Korthals (1851).

Herbs, erect, to 60 cm tall; stem 4-angled, densely strigillose-tomentulose to glabrescent. Leaves in subequal pairs; petiole 0.5-2.3(-3) cm, villosulous-tomentulose to glabrescent; blade drying membranous to papery, red or pale, oblong-ovate, ovate, or elliptic-oblong, 5-12(-15) × 2-6 cm, adaxially sparsely scaberulous, abaxially puberulent at least on principal veins, base cuneate to obtuse then often narrowed and shortly attenuate, margins entire, apex acute or occasionally obtuse or shortly acuminate; secondary veins 6-11 pairs; stipules deciduous, deeply 2-parted, 3-7 mm, puberulent, lobes cuspidate or filiform. Inflorescences cymose to paniculate, several to many flowered, hirtellous- or hispidulous-tomentulose; peduncle 3.5-5 cm; axes several, elongating as buds develop, helicoid; bracts reduced, caducous. Flowers with biology unknown, subsessile or on pedicels to 2 mm. Calyx puberulent to glabrous; hypanthium subglobose, 1-1.5 mm; lobes triangular, 0.3-0.5 mm, dorsally keeled. Corolla white, tubular or inflated, outside glabrous to puberulent, inside pubescent in upper part of tube and onto lobes; tube 2.5-3.5 mm; lobes ovate-triangular, ca. 1 mm, dorsally ridged. Capsules reniform-oblate, 2-3.5 × 6-9 mm, 5-ribbed, glabrescent. Fl. Apr-Oct, fr. Sep-Feb.

Taiwan [Japan, Philippines].