厚葉龍膽

Annual herbs. Stems erect or usually 2-3 branched in the upper part, brown to purplish brown, caespitose, glabrous, low herb, stems usually drawn when bloom, up to 13 cm tall. Leaves aristate-acuminate at apex, the costae prominent beneath, almost entire along margin, radical leaves ovate, 10-11 mm long, 7-8 mm wide; cauline leaves widely ovate, 3-6 mm long, 3-5 mm wide, slightly scabrous near leaves base, sheaths about 1 mm long. Flowers pedicellate, solitary and terminal ; pedicels 1-4 mm long; calyx-tube campanulate, about 4 mm long, with 5 smooth costae, 5-lobed; the lobes narrow triangular, 3-4 mm long, acuminate at apices; corolla tubular-campanulate, blue, with brown or black spot in the throat, 11-12 mm long, with 5 lobes; the lobes acutely ovate, 2-3 mm long, aristate-acuminate at apices; sinuses plicate with ovate-triangular appendages, appendages acute or cuspidate near apices; stamens 5, the anthers pink, narrow, about 1.5 mm long, the filaments 7-8 mm long, slightly attached on the lower-part of corolla-tube; ovary shortly stipitate, lanceolate to narrow-ovate, 4-6 mm long, 2 mm wide, the stipe about 2 mm long, style about 2 mm long, the stigma bifurcate and spirally recurved at bloom. Capsules obovoid, 5-6 mm long, 3-4 mm wide, 2-valved, dehiscent, exserted beyond the persistent corolla, with denticulate margin near upper part. Seeds ovoid, with minutely longitudinal reticulate-striae, about 0.8 mm long, 0.4-0.5 mm wide.

TYPE: Taiwan, Pref. Hualien: Tienchang Cliffs, Nangen s. n., 27 Dec. 1940 (holotype: TAI!）.

HUALIEN HSIEN: Tienchang cliffs, Nangen s. n. Dec. 27, 1940 (TAI); Chingshuishan, elev. ca. 2300-2408m, C. H. Chen 930 (TNU), T. Shimizu 12535 (KYO); Tzuen, elev. ca. 1800-2000m, C. H. Chen 2056 (TNU).

Distribution and habitat. Endemic to Taiwan, on semishady moist slope or exposed rocky slope in northeast part of the island. Only found in the east part of Central Cross Highway at ca. 2,000 m Alt., Tienchang cliffs (Holotype location) and Chingshuishan at ca. 1,500-2,400 m. in elevation. Rare. Flowering and fruiting Apr-May.

Notes. Masamune (1942) regarded G. tentyoensis, G. squarrosa and G. zollingerii as similar taxa. According to authors’ examination, G. tentyoensis differs from G. squarrosa in nearly no branch and differs from G. zollingerii in flourishing radical leaves. Shimizu (1963) treated the specimens found on Chingshuishan (a mountain in Taroko National Park) as new species—Gentiana kaoi. Based on authors’ examination on type specimens, the most difference between these two is the stems of the type specimens collected by Shimizu drawn when blooming. It is reasonable to treat these two as the same species.