Microchirita hamosa - Tropical Asian Chirita

Tropical Asian Chirita is an annual herb with stems erect, 5-25 cm, sparsely finely velvet-hairy to hairless. Stem leaves are 1-3, lowermost solitary, leaves toward tip opposite; leaf-stalk 2-4 x 1-3 mm; leaf blade narrowly to broadly ovate, 1.5-13 x 1-11 cm, herbaceous, base rounded to heart-shaped, margin entire, tip pointed to blunt; lateral veins 6-16 on each side of midrib. Flowers are borne in scorpioid cymes, 1-5-flowered; flower-cluster-stalk adnate to leaf-stalk, bracts absent. Flowers are white, yellow at throat, often flushed lavender, 1-1.9 cm, outside sparsely finely velvet-hairy above, inside hairless; tube nearly tubular, 7-15 x 3-5 mm; upper lip 1.2-2 mm; lower lip about 2.3 mm. Stamen filaments are 2-4 mm, pistil 1.1-1.4 cm. Sepal-cup is 5-11 mm, 5-lobed to 5-sect from near base; tube 0.5-4 mm; sepals unequal, linear to narrowly triangular, 4.5-7 x 1-1.5 mm, margin entire, tip narrowed. Flower-stalks are 3-14 mm, spreading velvet-hairy. Capsules are erect, 1.4-4 cm. Tropical Asian Chirita is found on shaded rocks in forests, cliffs, or streamside valleys, at altitudes of 300-1500 m, in India, China and SE Asia. Flowering: July-October.