Elatostema hookerianum - Curved-Leaf Elatostema

Curved-Leaf is a perennial, dioecious herb, 20-30 cm tall, hairless. Stems are rising up or erect, simple. Leaves are alternate; nanophylls absent; stipules linear-lanceshaped, 6-8 × 0.6-0.8 mm, without cystoliths; leaf-stalk 0-1 mm; leaf blade curved, 2.5-6.5 x 1.5-2 cm, papery, major basal lateral veins both arising at base of leaf blade, cystoliths prominent, only present along margins; base with broader half heart-shaped, margin finely toothed, tip tapering or with a tail. Male inflorescences are solitary, simple, 3-4 mm in diameter, nearly stalkless; receptacle very small; bracts fused, 2.5-4 mm; bracteoles lanceshaped or linear. Female inflorescences are solitary, 30-flowered or more, 4-9 mm in diameter, nearly stalkless; receptacle 3.5-7.5 mm in diameter. Male flowers are 4-merous. Achenes are ellipsoid, 10-ribbed. Curved-Leaf Elatostema is found on streamside rocks, dark damp places, evergreen broad-leaved forests in mountains, at altitudes of 1300-2400 m, in Bhutan, NE India, Sikkim, N Vietnam and China. Flowering: January-May.