台湾马蓝 tai wan ma lan

Goldfussia formosana (S. Moore) C. F. Hsieh & T. C. Huang.

Herbs to 80 cm tall, perennial, branched, isophyllous. Stems stout, 4-angled, sulcate, hirsute, basally rooting at nodes. Petiole (0-)2-6 mm; leaf blade lanceolate-ovate to obovate, 3.5-14 × 1-5 cm, sparsely pubescent, secondary veins 5-9 on each side of midvein, base attenuate and decurrent onto petiole, margin serrate, apex acuminate. Inflorescences axillary, headlike spikes, compact, 1-3-flowered, sometimes several spikes forming a terminal panicle; peduncle 1-4 cm, pubescent; bracts variable in shape and size; outermost bracts linear-lanceolate; inner bracts imbricate, broadly ovate, 5-9 × 4-5 mm, concave, caducous but sometimes persistent after anthesis, margin ciliate, apex acuminate. Calyx ca. 1 cm, 5-lobed almost to base; lobes linear, unequal, sometimes slightly long hirsute. Corolla purplish blue, 3-3.5 cm, slightly bent, outside sparsely pubescent, inside glabrous except for trichomes retaining style; tube basally cylindric and ca. 3 mm wide for ca. 6 mm then slightly ventricose and gradually widened to ca. 1 cm at mouth; lobes oblong, ca. 5 × 6 mm, apex emarginate. Stamens 4, included; short filament pair ca. 2 mm, equal, incurved, glabrous; longer filament pair ca. 6 mm, unequal, erect, pilose; anther thecae spherical, ca. 1.2 mm in diam., incurved; pollen type 3. Capsule ellipsoid, ca. 2 cm, 4-seeded. Seeds ovate in outline, ca. 2 mm, densely appressed pubescent. Fl. Aug-Oct.

● Forests in ravines; 700-2300 m. Taiwan.