头状龙胆 tou zhuang long dan

Ericala capitata (Buchanan-Hamilton ex D. Don) D. Don; Gentiana cephalodes Edgeworth.

Annuals 2-5.5 cm tall. Stems erect, lower half simple and leafless, upper half much branched with short internodes, and apically with many leaves and flowering branches crowded into a capitulum, angled, sparsely puberulent on angles. Lower leaves with petiole tube 0.5-1 mm; leaf blade elliptic to ovate, 0.8-1.5 cm × 6.5-10 mm, base narrowed to obtuse, margin cartilaginous, apex acute to obtuse, midvein distinct. Upper leaf blades oblong to elliptic, 6-8 × 1.5-2 mm, base obtuse, margin white or purple, broad, and membranous, apex obtuse, midvein distinct. Flowers many, subsessile. Calyx tubular, 4.5-7 mm, tube membranous; lobes broadly oblong, 1.5-2 mm, margin white or purple and broadly membranous, apex obtuse and cuspidate, midvein prominent. Corolla pale blue-purple, broadly tubular, 8-11 mm; lobes ovate-orbicular to semiorbicular, 1-1.2 mm, margin entire, apex obtuse to rounded; plicae semiorbicular, 0.8-1 mm, margin with 2 or 3 teeth to denticulate, apex rounded. Stamens inserted at basal part of corolla tube, equal; filaments 3-3.5 mm; anthers ellipsoid, 0.8-1 mm. Style 0.5-0.8 mm; stigma lobes oblong. Capsules narrowly obovoid, 4-7 mm; gynophore 1-1.5 mm, stout. Seeds brown, 0.8-1.1 mm, ellipsoid. Fl. and fr. Apr-Jun.

Meadow slopes, scrub meadows, forest margins; 2800-4200 m. S and SE Xizang [Bhutan, NE India, Kashmir, Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim].