中亚秦艽 zhong ya qin jiao

Perennials 10-25(-40) cm tall. Roots ± fleshy, sometimes several contiguous and twisted into a stout structure to 15 cm. Stems ascending, stout, simple, glabrous. Basal leaves petiole 1-2 cm, membranous; leaf blade linear, elliptic-lanceolate, or narrowly elliptic, 3-8 × 0.5-1.8 cm, base narrowed, margin smooth, apex acuminate to obtuse, veins 3-5. Stem leaves 2 or 3 pairs; petiole 5-12 mm, shortened toward apex; leaf blade linear-lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, 3-5.2 × 0.7-1.2 cm, base obtuse, margin smooth, apex acuminate, veins 1-3. Inflorescences terminal, 1-flowered or cymes, rarely terminal and subapical axillary cymes on pedunclelike branches to 6 cm. Pedicel to 1.8 cm, very unequal. Calyx tube narrowly obconic, 1-1.4 cm, membranous, entire; lobes linear, linear-lanceolate to linear-oblong, 0.6-2.1 cm, very unequal, as long as or longer than tube, midvein decurrent into angles of tube. Corolla blue-purple to dark blue, tubular-campanulate, 4-5 cm; lobes ovate, 6-9 mm, margin entire, apex obtuse; plicae auriculate, 2-3 mm, oblique, margin crenulate, apex obtuse. Stamens inserted at middle of corolla tube; filaments 0.9-1.1 cm; anthers narrowly ellipsoid, 3-4.5 mm. Style 1.5-2 mm; stigma lobes linear. Capsules narrowly ellipsoid to ovoid-ellipsoid, 1.3-2 cm; gynophore 7-11 mm. Seeds light brown, ellipsoid, 1.4-1.6 mm, narrowly winged on 1 side. Fl. and fr. Jul-Sep.

Grasslands, wet meadows, valleys; 1800-3500 m. N Xinjiang [Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan]