亮叶龙胆 liang ye long dan

Gentiana sororcula Burkill.

Annuals 3-6 cm tall. Stems branched from base, with many short branches crowded into a dense tuft, glabrous. Basal leaves withered at anthesis; petiole 0.5-1.5 mm; leaf blade ovate to ovate-orbicular, 4-7 × 2-3 mm, margin cartilaginous, apex obtuse and mucronate; veins 1-3, prominent. Stem leaves crowded, folded; petiole tube 1-2 mm; leaf blade subulate, 0.8-1.2 cm × 1.5-2 mm, subleathery, rigid, glossy, margin basal half broadly membranous and ciliolate, apical half cartilaginous and smooth, apex acute, midvein abaxially prominent. Flowers few, subsessile. Calyx narrowly obconic, (0.8-)1.1-1.5 cm, tube membranous; lobes subulate, 6-11 mm, as long as or longer than tube, subleathery, rigid, glossy, margin basal half broadly membranous and ciliolate, apical half cartilaginous and smooth, apex acuminate and apiculate, midvein prominent. Corolla pale blue, tubular, (1.1-)1.5-2 cm; lobes ovate, (3-)4-6 mm, margin entire, apex obtuse and mucronate; plicae oblong, 1.5-2 mm, margin entire or 2cleft with both segments denticulate, apex obtuse. Stamens inserted at middle of corolla tube, equal; filaments (2.5-)4-8 mm; anthers linear, 1-1.2 mm. Style 1-1.5 mm; stigma lobes broadly oblong. Capsules obovoid-ellipsoid, 6-7 mm; gynophore to 2.5 cm, slender. Seeds dark brown, ellipsoid, 0.5-0.7 mm. Fl. and fr. May-Sep.

Alpine meadows; 4300-4800 m. SE Xizang [Bhutan, Nepal, Sikkim]

Gentiana micans var. latifolia T. N. Ho is endemic to Bhutan.