雪球点地梅 xue qiu dian di mei

Androsace villosa Linnaeus var. robusta R. Knuth in Engler, Pflanzenr. IV. 237 (Heft 22): 192. 1905; A. villosa var. robusta f. longiscapa R. Knuth; A. muscoidea Duby f. longiscapa (R. Knuth) Handel-Mazzetti.

Herbs perennial, forming dense cushions. Shoots sparsely villous, becoming glabrescent, purplish, 1--1.2 cm, leafy at apex. Leaf rosettes globose, 0.8--1.5 cm in diam. Leaves sessile, tightly overlapping, dimorphic. Outer leaves dark brown, ligulate to narrowly elliptic, 4--7 X 1.5--2 mm, both surfaces glabrescent or nearly so, sparsely ciliate, apex obtuse to acute; midvein raised abaxially. Inner leaves numerous, ligulate-oblong to ligulate-oblanceolate, 5--6 X 1--1.5 mm, abaxially densely white lanate on distal 1/2, adaxially glabrescent or pubescent near apex, apex obtuse. Scapes solitary, 1--4 cm, sparsely sericeous; umbels 4--8-flowered, densely long white sericeous; bracts linear to narrowly lanceolate, 3--5 mm. Pedicel ca. as long as to slightly longer than bracts. Calyx ca. 3 mm, parted nearly to middle; lobes ovate-oblong, long ciliate, apex obtuse. Corolla purple, with a yellow eye, 6--8 mm in diam.; lobes obovate-oblong, margin obscurely undulate, apex rounded. Fl. Jun-Jul.

Alpine meadows; 3100--5100 m. S Xizang [India, Nepal, Pakistan].