滇西紫金龙 dian xi zi jin long

Climbers, herbaceous. Stems 2-4 m, branched and leafy throughout. Petiole 1-2 cm; leaf blade pale green abaxially, darker green adaxially, with 2 opposite leaflets; rachis ending in a thin branched cirrose tendril; primary leaflets irregularly compound, with 4-8 broadly ovate, obtuse to subacute, entire ultimate leaflets, 10-25 × 8-20 mm. Raceme ca. 1 cm, 2-7-flowered, nutant; peduncle 2.5-6 cm; bracts linear, 2-4 mm. Pedicel thin, ca. 5 mm, elongating to 10-16 mm in fruit. Sepals ca. 2 × 1 mm, shallowly dentate. Corolla golden yellow to red (or ?rubescent), 18-20 × 7-8 mm; outer petals saccate at base; sinus at petiole insertion narrow, ca. 3 mm deep; dorsal crest of inner petals overtopping petal apex ca. 2 mm; nectary directed downward, gradually thickened toward apex. Stigma squarish, slightly broader than long. Capsule grayish green to pale brown when ripe, 9-12 × 4-5 mm, tipped with style ca. 6 mm, 15-30-seeded, dehiscing with valves; valves often long persistent, attached at their base, dark outside, pale and conspicuously transversely wrinkled on inner side; style eventually falling, but replum long persistent with conspicuous tooth-shaped flattened funiculi. Seeds 1.3-1.5 mm, obtusely beaked, surface colliculate, occasional cells with low papillae; elaiosome large, deeply divided, easily detached from seed. Fl. Jul-Nov, fr. Aug-Nov.

● Forest understories; 1900-2500 m. NW Yunnan (Gongshan: Gaoligong Shan).