文采楼梯草 wen cai lou ti cao

Proximum Elatostemo eriocephalo, sed a quo differt petiolis 3–20 mm longis, inflorescentiis femineis solitariis, breviter pedunculatis, pedunculis 2–3 mm longis, bracteolis dense villosis, floribus femineis tepalis instructis.

Herbs perennial, dioecious, 100-150 cm tall. Stems ascending or erect, simple or rarely 1-branched, densely strigose. Leaves alternate; nanophyll absent; stipules lanceolate, 9-17 × 2.5-4.5 mm, with sparse cystoliths only on adaxial surface, strigose on abaxial surface; petiole 3-20 mm, densely strigose; leaf blade obliquely obovate to obliquely ovate, (3-)7-19.5 × (2.7-)4.0-11.7 cm, papery or thickly papery, major basal lateral veins asymmetric, 1 basal, the other arising above base, abaxial surface sparsely strigose or densely strigose on veins, adaxial surface glabrescent or pubescent on nerves, cystoliths obscure, sparse, 0.1-0.2 mm; base with broader half auriculate (auricle 5-13 mm), margin crenate or dentate, apex acuminate, cuspidate or caudate. Female inflorescences solitary, papilionaceous, 1.4-1.5 × 0.9-1.1 cm; peduncle 2-3 mm; receptacle papilionaceous, 1.3-1.4 × 0.8-1.0 cm, sparsely puberulent; bracts obscure; bracteoles very many, oblanceolate-linear, densely villous. Achenes ovoid. Fl. Nov-Mar.

* Evergreen broad-leaved forests in valleys; 1200-1500 m. NW Yunnan (Dulongjiang).