闭花马蓝 bi hua ma lan

Herbs to 1.5 m tall, isophyllous. Branches 4-angled, sulcate, silky gland-tipped pubescent. Petiole 2-5 cm, sulcate, subglabrous; leaf blade ovate-elliptic, (5-)7-12 × (2-)3-7 cm, abaxially glabrous except pilose along midvein, glaucous, and with numerous cystoliths, adaxially green and subglabrous except for few large-celled multicellular trichomes along veins, secondary veins 6-8 on each side of midvein, base cuneate and decurrent onto petiole, margin dentate and ciliate, apex acuminate and falcate. Inflorescences axillary, spikes, (1-)3-10 cm; bracts oblong, 1.5-4 × 0.2-0.5 cm, variable in size and apically diminishing in size, abaxially densely covered with white large-celled multicellular trichomes especially toward base, margin subentire; bracteoles linear, ca. 4 × 1 mm, puberulent. Calyx 1-1.2 cm, 5-lobed almost to base; lobes unequal with one larger than others, outside puberulent, margin large-celled multicellular pubescent with gland-tipped trichomes. Corolla purplish, curved, 3.5-4 cm, outside densely whitish pubescent when young but glabrescent, inside densely pubescent when young but glabrescent except for trichomes below lobe bases; tube basally cylindric and ca. 3 mm wide for ca. 5 mm then ventricose, bent to ca. 90°, and finally abruptly widened to ca. 1.3 cm at mouth; lobes oblong, ca. 5 × 4 mm, apex emarginate. Stamens 4, included; filaments glabrous, shorter pair 3-4 mm, longer pair 6-7 mm; anther thecae oblong, ca. 3 × 1 mm. Ovary glabrous; style 2.8-3 cm, apical part pilose. Capsule clavate, ca. 1.5 cm, glabrous except for pilose apex, 4-seeded. Seeds ca. 2 × 1.5 mm, lenticular, densely covered with scalelike trichomes; areola ca. 0.3 mm. Fl. May-Sep.

● By streams; 600-2700 m. Chongqing, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan.