White Bract Sinew Grass is a perennial herb with underground walking stems. Stem stout, erect, 18-25 cm tall, 4-angled, sulcate, white nodular villous along the angles and at the nodes. Petiole narrowly winged, base clasping, margin ciliate; leaf blade papery, lanceolate-oblong, 5-11 cm long, 1.8-3 cm wide, apex obtuse or slightly rounded, base cuneate, decurrent, margin sparsely undulate-crenate or several entire, ciliate, glabrous or sparsely sparsely pilose above, veins villous below only or scattered sparsely pilose near tip only. Spikelike cymes composed of numerous whorls; bracts large, tapering upward, whitish-yellow, white, or greenish-purple, ovate or broadly ovate, 3.5-5 cm long, 1.8-2.7 cm wide, apex acuminate, base rounded, amplexicaul, entire, villous above, sparsely villous below only on nerves or sometimes only apically; pedicels short, villous. Calyx campanulate or slightly funnel-shaped, 7-9 mm long, base slightly inflated anteriorly, with 10 veins, 5 of which are less conspicuous, calyx teeth 5, narrowly triangular, half as long as calyx or longer, neat, apex acuminate, margin ciliate. Corolla white, white-green or white-yellow, with purple markings, narrowly funnel-shaped, 1.8-2.5 cm, outside sparsely villous, base of corolla tube slightly enlarged anteriorly, with a ring of hairs internally, recurved from anteriorly, limb 2-lipped, upper lip small, erect, 2-lobed, lobes suborbicular, lower lip extended, 3-lobed, middle lobe narrowly flabellate, ca. 6.5 mm, apex emarginate, lateral lobes oblong, ca. 3 mm. Stamens 4, didynamous, inserted at middle of corolla tube, projecting, filaments fine, straight, villous or sparsely pilose, anthers reniform, 1-loculed. Style glabrous, projecting, slightly shorter than stamens, apex 2-lobed, lobes apiculate. Disk cup-shaped, lobes subequal, inconspicuous, slightly inflated anteriorly. Ovary 4-lobed, villous. Nutlets obovate or obovate-oblong-triangular, dorsiventrally reticulate rugose, middle of abdomen slightly elevated, with a large umbilicus which reaches halfway to the ventral surface. Flowering period July-September, fruiting period August-October. Growth habit
White Bract Sinew Grass is born in the sandy riverbanks, alpine meadows, or rock crevices on steep slopes, usually at an altitude of 1,900-3,200 meters, and rarely at less than 1,300 meters or more than 3,500 meters. Medicinal value
Anti-pyretic and anti-inflammatory, blood circulation and swelling. The whole herb is used as medicine for treating consumptive cough, vomiting blood and carbuncle, bruising and stasis, facial nerve paralysis, syphilis and anthrax. Pictures of White Bract Sinew Grass