Polygala latouchei

Description

Subshrubs 10-20 cm tall.Stems and branchlets terete,pubescent,with rounded,raised,yellow-brown leaf scars below middle.Leaves crowded on upper part of branches;petiole 5-7 mm,pubescent,narrowly winged;leaf blade abaxially reddish or dark purple,adaxially green,ovate-lanceolate to obovate or elliptic-lanceolate,3.5-8 × 1.5-2.2(-2.5) cm,papery,abaxially glabrous,adaxially sparsely to densely white setose,midvein slightly raised on both surfaces,lateral veins 4 or 5 pairs,curved,anastomosing along margin,veinlets reticulate,indistinct,base rounded,oblique,both sides differing in size,apex acute,mucronate.Racemes terminal or axillary at several leaves at apices of branches,3-6 cm,pubescent,densely flowered.Pedicel 2-3 mm;basal bract 1,caducous,ovate-lanceolate,ca.5 mm,setose,ciliate.Sepals 5,caducous,glabrous;outer sepals 3,ovate,ca.1.5 × 1 mm,apex obtuse;inner sepals 2,petaloid,elliptic,ca.5 × 2 mm,3-veined,apex obtuse.Petals 3,connate in lower 3/4,pink to purple-red,membranous;lateral petals narrowly elliptic,ca.8 mm,apex rounded;keel shorter than lateral petals,2-lamellate,apex with 3-lobed appendages.Stamens 8;filaments ca.5 mm,lower 4/5 united,forming an open staminal sheath;anthers ovoid.Ovary obovoid,narrowly winged,ca.1 mm in diam.,glabrous;style ca.4 mm,apex slightly thickened,slightly lobed.Capsule suborbicular,ca.4 mm in diam.,winged,apex incised and mucronate.Seeds black,ovoid,ca.2 mm,ca.1.2 mm in diam.,tuberculate,white pilose;strophiole wing-shaped,yellow-brown,equaling or longer than seeds.Fl.Mar-Apr,fr.Apr-May.