太魯閣龍膽

Annual herbs. Stems erect or usually 2-3 branched in the upper part, greenish yellow to brownish yellow, caespitose glabrous, 7-9 cm tall. Leaves aristate-acuminate at apices, slightly scabrous along margins; radical lanceolate, about 12 mm long, 8 mm wide; cauline leaves lanceolate to narrow-lanceolate, about 6 mm long, 3-4 mm wide; sheaths about 1 mm long. Flowers pedicellate, solitary on terminal branches; pedicels 1-4 mm long; calyx-tube campanulate, about 4 mm long, with 5 prominent scabrous costae, 5-lobed, the lobes stick-like or somewhat narrow-lanceolate, almost equal to calyx-tubes in length, roll slightly at apices, with obscurely scabrous-serrulate near apices, dilated and very minutely scabrous-serrulate at base, middle-part almost entire; corolla tubular-campanulate, white, with yellow or greenish yellow spots in the middle, about 12 mm long, with 5 lobes; the lobes acutely ovate, 3 mm long, aristate-acuminate at apices, sinuses plicate with ovate-triangular appendages; appendages acute or cuspidate near apices, almost entire near both extremes; stamens 5, the anthers narrow, 1.5 mm long, the filaments 7-8 mm long, attached slightly above the lower-part of corolla-tube; ovary shortly stipitate, lanceolate to narrow ovate, 3-5 mm long, 1-2 mm wide, stipe 1-2 mm long, style about 2 mm long, the stigma bifurcate and spirally recurved at bloom. Capsules obovoid or elliptical, 5-6 mm long, 2-valved, dehiscent, with serrulate wings on upper-part, exserted beyond the persistent corolla. Seeds ovoid, with minutely longitudinal reticulate-striae, 0.9-1.2 mm long, 0.5-0.7 mm wide

TYPE: Taiwan. Hualien Hsien: Chinghsuishan, C. H. Chen 931, 23 Apr. 1995 (holotype: TNU; isotype: HAST, TNU).

HUALIEN HSIEN: Chingshuishan, elev. ca. 2300-2408m, C. H. Chen 931 (TNU).

Distribution and habitat. Endemic to Taiwan, at about 2,000 to 2,400 m in elevation. Only found in umbrose Juniperus and semishady grasslands or mixed situations in Chingshuishan. Rare. Flowering Apr-May, fruiting May-Jun.

Note. Up to date, only one population was found on mountain-peak of Chinshuishan (in Taroko National Park). It is considered similar to Gentiana itzershanensis Liu & Kuo. The taxon is differs from the latter in smaller plant body, fewer branch, shorter flowers, and white corolla.