Medinilla septentrionalis (W.W. Sm.) H.L. Li

 Medinilla septentrionalis (W.W.Sm.) H.L.Li, J. Arnold Arbor. 25: 38 (1944).

Medinilla septentrionalis (W.W. Sm.) H.L. Li ; Photos Hoang Thanh Son

Vietnamese name: 

Nó pí oỏng (Tày)

Chinese name: 

北酸角杆 bei suan jiao gan

English name: 

Latin name: 

Medinilla septentrionalis (W.W. Sm.) H.L. Li 

Family: 

Melastomataceae 

Synonym name:

Anplectrum yunnanensis Kraenzl.

Medinilla caerulescens Guillaumin

Medinilla caerulescens var. nuda W. G. Craib

Oritrephes septentrionalis W.W. Sm.

Pseudodissochaeta septentrionalis (W.W. Sm.) M.P. Nayar

Description: 

Shrubs 1-5(-7) m tall, many branched, erect or sometimes scrambling. Branches terete, glabrous with thin brown bark. Petiole 0.4-0.9 mm; leaf blade lanceolate, ovate-lanceolate, or broadly ovate, 7-8.5 × 2-2.5 cm, papery, abaxially ± furfuraceous, adaxially glabrous, secondary veins 2 on each side of midvein, base obtuse to subrounded, margin sparsely serrulate apically from middle, apex caudate-acuminate. Inflorescences axillary, cymose, 3.5-5.5 cm, (1 or)3(or 5)-flowered, glabrous; peduncle 1-2.5 cm. Hypanthium campanulate, 4-4.5 mm, densely tuberculate, with very scattered glandular trichomes or glabrous. Calyx lobes inconspicuous, apiculate. Petals pink, lavender, or purplish red, triangular-ovate, 8-10 mm, base slightly oblique, apex acute. Stamens 8, subequal. Longer (outer) stamens with filaments 4.5-5.5 mm; anthers ca. 7 mm. Shorter stamens with filaments 3-4 mm; anthers ca. 6 mm, base tuberculate. Connective slightly decurrent and forming a short spur. Ovary ovoid, apex 4-undulate. Berry urceolate, ca. 7 × 6 mm. Seeds cuneate, densely tuberculate. 

Flower and fruid season: 

Fl. Jun-Sep, fr. Feb-May.

Distribution: 

This species is distributed in China, Myanmar, N Thailand, Vietnam. In VietNam, it found in Bắc Kạn, Lâm Đồng (Lang Biang)..

Ecological: 

Bushes, scattered naturally in the forest, at an altitude of less than 2000m

Uses: 

Diuretic, cooling, healing liver, kidney (stem, root).

Reference: 

- theplantlist.org

- efloras.org

- ipni.org