山地拉拉藤 shan di la la teng

Herbs, perennial (not annual), erect, ca. 30 cm tall. Stems 4-angled, slender, much branched, glabrous. Leaves in whorls of 4 or 5, sessile; blade narrowly ovate or ovate, abaxially pilose along veins, apex acuminate; principal vein 1 or with 2 short and weakly developed lateral veins. Inflorescences terminal, with few-flowered trichotomous cymes; peduncles glabrous; pedicels 1-2 mm, glabrous. Ovary ovoid-subglobose, ca. 1 mm, with undeveloped trichomes. Corolla white, rotate, ca. 3 mm in diam.; lobes 4, acute. Mericarps subglobose, with dense uncinate trichomes. Fl. and fr. Jul.

● Conifer mountain forests; ca. 2800 m. Taiwan.

Galium takasagomontanum was not treated or mentioned by Yang and Li (Bull. Natl. Mus. Nat. Sci., Taichung 11: 101-117. 1998; Fl. Taiwan, ed. 2, 4: 254-259. 1998), and we have not seen authentic material. According to the protologue it may belong to the condensed Taiwan mountain group of G. morii (see there), where it appears similar with its weakly 3-nerved leaves to G. nankotaizanum but differs by glabrous stems, somewhat larger flowers, and uncinate trichomes on mericarps. Nevertheless, its quite tall growth, the partly 5-whorled leaves, the exclusively terminal inflorescences, and the flower size are more indicative of its being a synonym of the Taiwanese G. echinocarpum from G. sect. Hylaea. A definite placement will only be possible after inspection of the type material.