短蕊山莓草 duan rui shan mei cao

Potentilla perpusilloides W. W. Smith, Rec. Bot. Surv. India 4: 188. 1911; P. brachystemon Handel-Mazzetti.

Herbs perennial, small. Roots slender, slightly woody; rootlets slender. Flowering stems 1–1.5 cm tall. Radical leaves 0.7–1.5 cm including petiole; stipules brown, membranous, pilose or subglabrous; petiole pilose or subglabrous; leaf blade 3-foliolate; leaflets shortly petiolulate or subsessile, broadly obovate, 2–3.5 × 1.5–2.5 mm, both surfaces subglabrous, base cuneate, margin 2–5-serrate; teeth ovate, apex acute, rarely obtuse. Flower solitary, terminal, ca. 6 mm in diam., base pilose. Sepals broadly ovate, apex acute; epicalyx segments elliptic-lanceolate, slightly shorter than sepals, abaxially sparsely pilose or subglabrous, margin ciliate, apex acute. Petals 5, white, obovate, nearly 2 × as long as sepals, apex rounded. Stamens up to 10; filaments short. Style lateral. Achenes glabrous. Fl. and fr. Jul–Aug.

Alpine meadows, rock crevices; 3800--4300 m. Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, N Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim].