乐山马蓝 le shan ma lan

Herbs to 30 cm tall, perennial, isophyllous. Stems procumbent, sulcate, glabrous, rooting at nodes; flowering branches arising in pairs from nodes, apparently erect, 3-20 cm, sparsely bifariously pilose especially apically, with reflexed whitish large-celled trichomes. Petiole 0.5-2 cm, bifariously hirsute with short reflexed whitish trichomes; leaf blade narrowly elliptic, broadly elliptic, or obovate-spatulate, 1.5-3 × 1-1.5 cm, glabrous except for a few marginal trichomes near petiole, adaxially with prominent cystoliths, secondary veins 3-5 on each side of midvein, base attenuate, margin serrate, apex very shortly acuminate to obtuse. Inflorescences axillary or terminal, headlike spikes, 1-1.5 cm, few flowered; peduncle 0.2-1.8 cm, pilose; bracts obovate-spatulate, 4-10 × 2-6 mm, apically diminishing in size, abaxially glabrous, adaxially with a few trichomes toward base, margin basally entire and ciliate with thick white spreading trichomes and apically toothed and not ciliate, apex ± obtuse; bracteoles oblanceolate to obovate-spatulate, 2-3 × ca. 0.5 mm, margin ciliate with a few large white trichomes to 2 mm, apex ± rounded. Calyx ca. 4 mm, subequally 5-lobed to ca. 1 mm above base; lobes pale but with a green tip, linear-oblong, ca. 3.2 × 1 mm, pilose with large-celled but mostly marginal trichomes, apex obtuse. Corolla blue, 7-8 mm, funnel-shaped, outside pilose; tube basally cylindric and ca. 1 mm wide for ca. 2 mm then gradually widened to ca. 5 mm at mouth; lobes ovate, ca. 1.5 × 1.5 mm, apex acute. Stamens 4; filaments glabrous, shorter pair ca. 2 mm, longer pair ca. 4 mm and slightly exserted; anther thecae oblong, ca. 0.5 × 0.2 mm; central staminode present, ca. 1 mm; pollen type 9. Ovary pilose; style ca. 8 mm. Capsule (immature) ca. 2.5 mm, pilose with large-celled trichomes, 4-seeded. Seeds ovate in outline, lenticular, ca. 2 × 2 mm, densely covered with appressed trichomes; areola small, glabrous. Fl. Sep-Oct.

● Moist shaded places; 800-1100 m. Sichuan.