刺虎耳草 ci hu er cao

Ciliaria bronchialis (Linnaeus) Haworth; Leptasea bronchialis (Linnaeus) Komarov.

Plants 10-20 cm tall. Shoots numerous, with dense rosette leaves. Flowering stem slender, glandular pubescent or glabrous. Rosette leaves linear-lanceolate, 7.5-9 × 1.4-1.6 mm, leathery, glabrous except margin cartilaginous ciliate and apex cartilaginous aristate. Cauline leaves linear, 5.2-6 × 0.8-1 mm, leathery, margin cartilaginous ciliate, apex cartilaginous aristate. Cyme 3-5-flowered; branches slender, glandular pilose, sometimes with buds in bract axils. Sepals spreading, ovate, ca. 1.8 × 1.2 mm, subcarnose, abaxially and marginally glandular pilose, veins 3 or 4, free, apex acute. Petals yellowish white, crimson spotted, oblong-elliptic, 5-6 × 2-2.5 mm, not callose, 3-veined, base ± truncate, clawless, apex acute. Stamens ca. 5 mm. Ovary subsuperior, ovoid, 2-3 mm; styles ca. 1.5 mm. Fl. and fr. Jun-Aug. 2n = 26, 28, 38, ca. 44, 48, 66, ca. 80, 92, 112, 150.

Rock crevices on slopes; 800-1500 m. Heilongjiang, Nei Mongol [Mongolia, Russia; North America].

This is a polymorphic taxon, of which many variants have been treated as segregate species. The Chinese plants described above appear to belong to subsp. bronchialis. Further work on the whole complex throughout its range is needed in order to clarify the situation.