糙叶丰花草 cao ye feng hua cao

Borreria hispida (Linnaeus) K. Schumann.

Herbs, annual or perennial, or subshrubs, prostrate to perhaps weakly ascending, apparently often fleshy, to 50 cm tall; stems subterete to usually markedly quadrate, glabrous to puberulent or pilosulous on sides, angles cartilaginous to winged, wings to 0.1 mm wide, ciliolate, hispidulous, or ciliate. Leaves sessile to shortly petiolate; petiole to 4 mm, hirtellous throughout or ciliolate in lines; blade drying papery to leathery, oblong-elliptic, obovate, or spatulate, 10-30(-40) × 5-15(-18) mm, both surfaces hirtellous to scaberulous, hispidulous, and/or hirsute, base cuneate to obtuse and usually long decurrent, margin scaberulous or ciliolate and often revolute, apex acute, obtuse, or rounded; secondary veins 2 or 3(or 4) pairs or not visible; stipules moderately to densely puberulent, hirtellous, and/or pilosulous often in lines, sheath 1-3 mm, with 5-7 bristles 1-5 mm. Inflorescences axillary, 5-15 mm in diam., with 1-6 flowers per axil; bracts linear or infrequently stipuliform, 1-5 mm. Calyx puberulent to hirtellous or scaberulous; hypanthium portion ellipsoid, 0.8-1 mm; lobes 4, linear-lanceolate to narrowly triangular, 1-1.5 mm, ciliolate or ciliate. Corolla pink, purple, or white, funnelform, outside glabrous or hispidulous to pilosulous on upper part; tube 2.5-4.5 mm, glabrous in throat; lobes elliptic-oblong, lanceolate, or triangular, 1-1.8 mm. Capsules ellipsoid to subglobose, sometimes weakly flattened perpendicular to septum, 2.5-5 × 2.5-3.5 mm, puberulent, hirtellous, pilosulous, and/or hispidulous, papery to cartilaginous, septicidal from apex with valves usually remaining connected at base then both valves loculicidal through septum, with calyx lobes sometimes enlarging, up to 2.2 mm; seeds black, elliptic to elliptic-oblong in outline, 2.2-3 mm, obtuse at both ends, shiny to dull, surface minutely granular or dimpled. Fl. and fr. Mar-Dec.

On open sandy lands at lower elevations; sea level to 100 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Taiwan [India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam; Australia].

This name is applied here to most of the plants treated by W. C. Ko (in FRPS 71(2): 206-207. 1999) as "Borreria articularis"; see the comments about these two species above, under Spermacoce articularis. The seeds of this species (as circumscribed here) were illustrated by Chaw and Sivarajan (Bot. Bull. Acad. Sin., n.s., 30: 19, f. 22-24. 1989). The leaf measurements included above in parentheses are taken from Wang & Li W05246 (Taiwan, MO!), which is an exceptionally robust plant.