Asarum chinense Franch.

Herbs. Rhizomes spreading, horizontal, ca. 1 mm in diam., internodes ca. 2 cm. Leaves solitary; petiole 5-15 cm, glabrous; leaf blade adaxially green or along veins white, rarely near midvein white blotched, elliptic or ovate, rarely cordate, 3-7 × 2.5-6 cm, abaxial surface glabrous, adaxial surface sparsely pubescent, base auriculate-cordate, lateral lobes 1.5-2 × ca. 2.5 cm, apex acuminate; cataphylls ovate, 1-1.5 × 0.7-0.8 cm. Peduncle ascending, ca. 1.5 cm. Calyx purple or greenish purple, campanulate, 1.5-2 × 2-2.5 cm; sepals connate beyond attachment to ovary, abaxially glabrous; tube globose or ovoid-globose, ca. 0.8 × 1 cm, apically constricted and gradually dilated forming a short neck below lobes, adaxially longitudinally ribbed and sometimes inconspicuously transversely corrugate, orifice ring ca. 1 mm wide; lobes spreading, broadly ovate, ca. 1 × 1 cm, base with dense papillae forming semicircular area. Stamens 12; filaments much shorter than anthers; connectives slightly extended beyond anthers, obtuse. Ovary superior or half-inferior. Styles free, apex truncate or slightly notched; stigmas subterminal. Fl. Apr-May.

W Hubei, NE Sichuan.

* Forests, moist valleys; 1300-1500 m.

Asarum chinense f. fargesii Franchet; A. fargesii Franchet; A. wulongense Z. L. Yang.