林马蓝 lin ma lan

Pteracanthus dryadum (Benoist) C. Y. Wu & C. C. Hu.

Herbs to 1 m tall, much branched, nearly isophyllous. Stems 4-angled, sulcate, bifariously pubescent. Petiole 1-3 cm, sulcate, bifariously pubescent; leaf blade ovate to lanceolate, to 25 × 8 cm, glabrous, abaxially pale, secondary veins 6 or 7 on each side of midvein, base attenuate and decurrent onto petiole forming wings, margin crenate-dentate, apex acuminate. Inflorescences terminal, spikes, 3-6 cm, with 2-6 flower pairs; rachis pubescent with gland-tipped trichomes, winged, wing ca. 1 mm; bracts ovate-oblong, 4-7 × 1-2 mm, persistent, gland-tipped pubescent, apex obtuse; bracteoles oblong, ca. 4 × 0.5 mm, gland-tipped pubescent. Flowers distant on rachis, usually one sterile per node. Calyx 1-1.5 cm, accrescent in fruit, outside gland-tipped pubescent, 2-lipped; lower lip 2-lobed almost to base; upper lip 3-lobed to below middle, lobes linear-oblong and 11-15 × 1-2 mm. Corolla blue, outside glabrous, inside glabrous except for trichomes retaining style; tube basally cylindric and ca. 2 mm wide for ca. 8 mm then gradually widened to ca. 1 cm at mouth; lobes oblong, ca. 8 × 8 mm. Stamens 4, included; filaments hirsute, shorter pair ca. 4 mm, longer pair ca. 6 mm; anther thecae oblong, ca. 2 mm; pollen type 4. Ovary puberulent at tip; style ca. 2.2 cm, sparsely pilose; stigma linear, compressed. Capsule narrowly oblong-obovoid, 1-1.2 cm, apically gland-tipped pubescent, 4-seeded. Seeds pilose; areola small. Fl. May, Sep-Nov, fr. Jan-Mar.

● Moist places in forests; 1300-2500 m. Guangxi, Yunnan.