Table 2.

Morphological comparison of Strobilanthes danxiaensis, S. austrosinensis and S. japonica.

Character	Strobilanthes danxiaensis	S. tetrasperma	S. austrosinensis	S. japonica
Height	up to 80 cm	30–50 cm	to 50 cm	20–50 cm
Stem	white tomentose	retrorsely pubescent along sulci, glabrescent	bifariously pubescent with reflexed large-celled trichomes	glabrous
Leaf blade	ovate to elliptic, 6.5–10 × 3.8–5.5 cm	ovate, elliptic, or oblong, 1.5–11 × 1–4.5 cm	elliptic to suborbicular, 2–8 × 1–4.5 cm	narrowly elliptic to lanceolate, 2–5 × 0.5–1.8 cm
Leaf adaxial surface	sparsely puberulous	glabrous	pilose and hirsute	glabrous
Leaf abaxial surface	tomentose along veins	glabrous	pilose along veins	glabrous
Petiole	0.3–1.1 cm, tomentose	0.5–2.5 cm, sulcate, glabrous	0–2 cm, bifariously hirsute	2–5 cm, pubescent
Bracts	leaflike, obovate to obovate-spatulate, 1–2 × 0.5–1 cm	leaflike, obovate to spatulate, 1–1.5 × 0.4–0.5 cm	leaflike, broadly obovate-spatulate, 1.5–1.8 × 0.5–0.8 cm	imbricate, oblanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 7–10 × 2–3 mm
Bracteoles	linear to oblanceolate, 0.8–0.9 × 0.1–0.2 cm	linear, 5–6 × ca. 1 mm	spatulate, 8–11 × 1–2.5 mm	linear, ca. 5 mm
Calyx	0.8–1.1 cm long, densely pubescent on both surfaces	0.5–0.7 cm long, glabrous except for large-celled trichomes on margin, densely covered with cystoliths	1–1.2 cm long, outside pilose, inside subglabrous, margin ciliate	0.6–0.7 cm long, margin ciliate
Corolla	pale purple to whitish, 2.8–4 cm	purple to purplish blue, 1.5–2 cm	bluish purple, 2.2–2.8 cm	purplish white or white, ca. 1.5 cm
Corolla lobes	oblong to obovate, ca. 10 × 10 mm, emarginate at apex	oblong, ca. 4 × 5 mm, apex obtuse	ovate-elliptic, ca. 5 mm long	oblong-elliptic, 5–6 mm long
Filaments	shorter pair ca. 2 mm, longer pair ca. 6 mm	shorter pair ca. 2 mm, longer pair ca. 5 mm	shorter pair ca. 6 mm, longer pair ca. 8 mm	shorter pair ca. 8 mm, longer pair ca. 12 mm
Ovary	cylindrical, upper 2/3 pubescent	ovoid, ca. 3 mm, hispid at tip	ovoid, glabrous except comose tip	glabrous
Style	ca. 3 cm	ca. 1.5 cm	ca. 1.5 cm	ca. 1.2 cm
Phenology	flowering November–January, fruiting march	flowering July–December	flowering July–September, fruiting October–November	flowering August–September, fruiting October–November