美丽唐松草 mei li tang song cao

Thalictrum menthosma Stocks ex Lecoyer; T. neurocarpum Royle.

Plants 0.8--1.5 m tall, glandular pubescent. Stems branched. Basal leaves withered at anthesis. Cauline leaf petiole 2--6 cm; leaf blade 3-pinnate, ca. 20 cm; leaflet blade broadly ovate, orbicular-ovate, or rhombic-obovate, 1.2--2.5 × 1.5--3.2 cm, herbaceous, abaxially glandular pubescent, base rounded or subcordate, margin 3-lobed; lobes entire or few crenate; veins slightly raised abaxially. Inflorescence paniculate, 20--30 cm. Pedicel 0.8--2.5 mm, glandular pubescent. Sepals 4, reddish pink, ovate or orbicular-ovate, 9--13 × 6--10 mm. Stamens many, ca. 8 mm; filament filiform; anther yellow, linear, 3--4 mm, apex mucronate. Carpels 15--20; style ca. 1.5 mm, slightly longer than ovary; stigma oblong. Achenes glandular pubescent; stipe ca. 1.5 mm; body obliquely narrowly obovoid, compressed, ca. 6 × 2.6 mm; veins ca. 3, weak. Fl. Jul--Oct.

Picea forests, scrub, slopes; 3100--3700 m. S Xizang [Bhutan, Nepal, Sikkim].

This species is similar to Thalictrum diffusiflorum, but differs in having leaflets larger and inflorescences with longer, glandular hairs; it is also similar to T. chelidonii, which differs in being glabrous and having cauline leaves with axillary buds; it is also similar to T. delavayi, which differs in being glabrous and having persistent, short styles and narrowly winged achenes.