暗红葛缕子 an hong ge lü zi

Vicatia atrosanguinea (Karelin & Kirilov) P. K. Mukherjee & M. Pimenov.

Plants ca. 40 cm. Taproot slender, much-branched. Stem erect, base clothed with papery remnant sheaths. Basal leaves oblong-lanceolate in outline, 2–3-pinnate; ultimate segments lanceolate, 3–5 × 1.5–2 mm. Bracts absent, occasionally 1–2, linear to lanceolate, shorter than rays; rays 5–10, 2–4 cm, very unequal; bracteoles 2–5, linear, equaling pedicels; umbellules 6–10-flowered. Calyx teeth obsolete. Petals purplish-red. Fruit oblong-ovoid, 3–4 × 1.5–2 mm; vittae 3 in each furrow, 4 on commissure. Fl. and fr. May–Sep.

Forests, shady valleys, riparian grasslands; 1800–3600 m. Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia].

Some authors consider this species to belong in Vicatia, but others disagree on the basis of the fundamental difference of a flat seed face in C. atrosanguineum compared to a sulcate one in Vicatia. Pending future work we here retain this species in Carum. The NW Himalayan (non-Chinese) Tongoloa wolffiana Fedde ex H. Wolff (V. wolffiana (Fedde ex H. Wolff) C. Norman) is included by some authors in synonymy under V. atrosanguinea; however, further work is needed in order to confirm or reject this placement.