湖北拉拉藤 hu bei la la teng

Galium boreale Linnaeus var. molle Hemsley; G. hemsleyanum Beauverd; G. hupehense var. molle (Hemsley) Cufodontis.

Herbs, perennial, erect, with slender rhizome. Stems 4-angled, pilosulous. Leaves in whorls of 4, subsessile; blade lanceolate, 30-50 × 6-12 mm, length/breadth index above 4, adaxially hispidulous to scaberulous, abaxially pilose at least on principal veins, apex acuminate to subacute; principal veins 3, palmate. Inflorescence terminal, paniculiform, 15-20 × 4-8 cm, with many-flowered cymes; peduncles and pedicels hairy to glabrescent. Ovary ovoid, densely hairy. Corolla yellowish white, rotate, ca. 2 mm in diam., glabrous or pilose; lobes 4, ovate, hairy outside, acute. Mericarps with straight trichomes (and/or ?glabrous). Fl. Jul, fr. Aug-Sep.

● Mountains; ca. 2000 m. Hubei (Yichang), Jiangsu (Kunshan).

Galium hupehense, possibly endemic to EC China, is evidently related to the also small-flowered G. kinuta (Cufodontis, Oesterr. Bot. Z. 89: 223-224. 1940) but has hairy stems, whereas G. chekiangense and G. boreale differ i.a. by their larger flowers (3-4 mm in diam.). As we have seen no authentic material of G. hupehense, the above description is based on available literature sources only. Its original description gives no information on ovary and fruit indumentum, whereas straight (and ?multicellular) hairs are indicated for the certainly synonymous G. hemsleyanum. Possibly by mistake, W. C. Chen (in FRPS 71(2): 281-282. 1999) reported plants with glabrous (var. hupehense) and with densely hairy ovaries (var. molle). Both are recorded from Yichang, only the latter from more condensed plants in Kunshan. These uncertainties and the status of G. hupehense with its varieties need to be clarified in the future.