石竹叶龙胆 shi zhu ye long dan

Perennials 3-5 cm tall. Taproot cylindric, 5-10 × ca. 0.5 cm. Stems perennial, many, forming a cushion, prostrate to ascending, slender, simple. Basal rosette leaves absent or very small; leaf blade triangular, less than 5 mm. Stem leaves many, crowded, withering toward stem base; petiole 3-5 mm; leaf blade lanceolate, oblanceolate, or ovate, 3-8 × 1-2.5 mm, base obtuse, margin cartilaginous and scabrous, apex acuminate and awned with a tip to 1 mm, veins 1-3. Flowers terminal, solitary, slender, sessile or on pedicels 2-4 mm. Calyx shallowly cupular, tube 3-4 mm; lobes slightly spreading, lanceolate to oblong, 3-5 mm, unequal, margin cartilaginous and scabrous; apex acuminate and with a tip to 1 mm. Corolla dark blue, tubular to tubular-campanulate, 1.5-1.8 cm; lobes elliptic, 7-8 mm, margin entire, apex obtuse; plicae 0.5-1 mm, auricular. Stamens inserted at basal part of corolla tube; filaments 7-9 mm; anthers 1.5-2 mm. Style 1.5-2 mm; stigma lobes narrowly triangular. Capsules subsessile, ellipsoid, 1.2-1.4 cm. Seeds dark brown, fusiform, 0.8-1 mm. Fl. and fr. Aug-Sep.

Alpine meadows; 4000-4300 m. NW Yunnan [NE Myanmar].