Balanophora laxiflora Hemsl.

Plants dioecious, red to dark red, sometimes purplish. Rhizome branched; branches subspherical, 1-3 × 1-2.5 cm, surface densely covered with scabrous speckles and yellowish stellate warts. Leaves 8-14, alternate, elliptic-oblong, 1.5-2.5 × 1-1.5 cm, apex obtuse. Scapes 5-10 cm. Male inflorescences cylindric, 3-18 × 0.5-2 cm, apex acuminate. Male flowers: subsessile, zygomorphic, subtended by two slender rudimentary or indistinct bracts. Perianth lobes 4-6, suborbicular to ovate, 2-3 mm, apex acute to obtuse. Synandria sessile, subdiscoid or sometimes expanded laterally, 4.5-6 mm in diam.; anthers broken up into many locelli, dehiscent by short slits. Female inflorescences ovoid-spheroid to oblong-ellipsoid, 2-6 × 0.8-2 cm, apex acuminate. Spadicles subclavate, to 1.5 mm, apical 2/3 obovate; cuticular ridges of apical cells short but distinct and congested. Female flowers: on basal stipes of spadicles and main axis of inflorescence. Fl. Sep-Nov.

Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Laos, Thailand, Vietnam].

Dense forests; (200-)600-1700 m.

Balanophora formosana Hayata; B. hongkongensis K. M. Lau et al.; B. morrisonicola Hayata; B. oshimae Yamamoto; B. parvior Hayata; B. rugosa P. C. Tam; B. spicata Hayata.