崖州耳草 ya zhou er cao

Herbs or subshrubs, perennial, erect, to 10 cm tall; stems weakly 4-angled. Leaves sessile or subsessile, crowded at tops of stems; blade drying papery, obovate or ovate-elliptic, 8-20 × 4-12 cm, base obtuse, apex obtuse to broadly obtuse; secondary veins 5-8 pairs; stipules obtrapezoid to spatulate, 2-6 mm, lacerate with lobes ca. 1 mm. Inflorescence terminal, capitate, hemispherical, 3-5 cm in diam., several flowered, sessile to subsessile; bracts linear-lanceolate, ca. 8 mm, acute. Flowers sessile. Calyx densely puberulent; hypanthium portion ellipsoid to obovoid, 3-4 mm; limb divided essentially to base; lobes linear, ca. 35 × 1 mm. Corolla blue-purple, slenderly funnelform, outside sparsely puberulent; tube ca. 30 mm; lobes ovate, ca. 1 mm. Stigmas included. Fruit indehiscent, ellipsoid to obovoid, ca. 3 mm, densely pilosulous; seeds 8-12, black, papillose. Fl. and fr. Oct.

● Understories of tropical rain forests; 100-300 m. S Hainan (Sanya).