Vandellia elata Bentham, Scroph. Ind. 36. 1835; Lindernia urticifolia (Hance) Bonati; Vandellia urticifolia Hance.

Annuals, erect, to 40 cm tall, usually much branched, basally woody with age. Stems conspicuously angled, densely hirsute. Petiole to 1.4 cm, narrowly winged; leaf blade triangular-ovate, 1.2-2 X 1.2-2 cm, patently hirsute, base cuneate to truncate and often decurrent, margin coarsely acute serrate, apex acute. Flowers numerous, mostly in axillary racemes forming panicles; bracts narrowly lanceolate, hairy. Pedicel 2-7 mm, ascending, hairy. Calyx to 4 mm in fruit, lobed to base; lobes linear-lanceolate, patently hairy. Corolla purple, purple-red, or blue, ca. 4 mm; tube ca. 1 mm, inflated at middle; lower lip 3-lobed; upper lip emarginate. Filaments of anterior stamens with a clavate appendage. Capsule ellipsoid, shorter than persistent calyx. Seeds ribbed. Fl. Jul-Oct, fr. Sep-Nov.

Lindernia elata var. chinensis (Bonati) Handel-Mazzetti has been reported from China, but no specimens have been seen by the authors.

Rice fields, grassland, sandy mountain slopes; low elevations. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan [Cambodia, Indonesia (Kalimantan), Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam].