大果高河菜 da guo gao he cai

Biscutella megalocarpa Fischer ex de Candolle, Ann. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. 18: 296. 1811; Megacarpaea angulata de Candolle; M. laciniata de Candolle; M. mugodzharica Goloskokov & Vassilczenko.

Herbs perennial, 20-30(-40) cm tall. Trichomes sparse to dense, flattened, crisped. Roots napiform, to 4 cm wide. Caudex short, covered with fibrous petiolar remains of previous years. Stems erect, stout, divaricately branched above, glabrescent. Petiole of basal leaves 2-6 cm; leaf blade oblanceolate, (5-)8-16 × (1-)2.5-4 cm, densely pubescent, margin pinnatisect, with 4-7 lateral lobes on each side; lobes irregularly laciniate. Cauline leaves sessile; leaf blade similar to basal but smaller. Inflorescences paniculate, with sessile bracts at branching. Flowers irregularly unisexual. Fruiting pedicels stout, straight, divaricate or ascending, 5-10(-15) mm, pubescent. Sepals and petals present in male flowers, absent in female ones. Sepals narrowly oblong, 5-7 × 2-2.5 mm, margin white, scarious, sparsely pubescent. Petals lavender, linear-oblong, 1-1.5 cm × 3.5-4.5 mm, base attenuate, apex obtuse. Intermediate flowers sometimes present, with whitish petals, and stamens and pistil developed to various degrees. Filaments 3-4 mm; anthers linear, 2-2.5 mm. Fruit halves suborbicular, (1-)1.2-1.8(-2) cm in diam.; wings 3-7 mm wide; locule suborbicular, 6-10 × 5-7 mm; replum 4-7 mm; style 0.5-1 mm. Seeds flattened, suborbicular, 5-7 × 3.5-5 mm. Fl. Apr, fr. May-Jun.

Sandy deserts, alkaline flats. Qinghai, Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Uzbekistan].