美花草 mei hua cao

Ranunculus pimpinelloides D. Don in Royle, Ill. Bot. Himal. Mts. 1: 53. 1839; Callianthemum cashmirianum Cambessèdes; C. imbricatum Handel-Mazzetti; C. tibeticum Witasek.

Rhizome short. Stems 2 or 3, 3--7 cm tall, erect or ascending, unbranched or 1- or 2-branched. Basal leaves as long as stems, not fully expanded at anthesis; petiole 1.5--6 cm, basally sheathed; leaf blade ovate to narrowly ovate, 1.5--2.5 × 1.4--1.8 cm, with (1 or)2(or3) pairs of lateral leaflets; leaflets subsessile, obliquely ovate to rhombic, deeply undulate, margin with obtuse teeth, apically flabellate to rhombic. Stem leaves absent or 1 or 2. Flowers 1.1--1.4 cm in diam. Sepals elliptic, 3--6 × 1.8--3.5 mm, base scrotiform, apex obtuse to acute. Petals 5--7(--9), white, pink or pale purple, obovate-oblong to broadly linear, 5--10 × 1--2.5 mm, apex rounded. Stamens ca. 1/2 as long as petal; filaments lanceolate-linear; anthers ellipsoid. Pistils 8--14. Aggregate fruit ca. 6 mm in diam. Achenes ovoid, ca. 2.8 mm, rugose. Fl. Apr--Jun. 2n = 16*, 32*.

Grassland on high mountains. 3200--5600 m. Qinghai, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Kashmir, Nepal, Pakistan, Sikkim].