锡金肋柱花 xi jin lei zhu hua

Swertia sikkimensis Burkill, J. Proc. Asiat. Soc. Bengal 2: 322. 1906.

Annuals 2-7 cm tall. Stems ascending to erect, angular, few branched with short branches or simple, glabrous. Leaves sessile, linear to linear-lanceolate, 0.9-1.7 cm × 1.5-2.5 mm, abaxially papillate, base obtuse, margin revolute when dry, apex acuminate, midvein distinct. Inflorescences racemelike, usually in many-flowered panicles. Flowers 5merous. Pedicel spreading to erect, filiform, to 1 cm, glabrous. Calyx tube 1-1.5 mm; lobes linear to linear-lanceolate, 7-9 mm, base obtuse, apex acuminate, midvein distinct. Corolla dark blue, tube 1-1.5 mm; lobes ovate-elliptic, 0.9-1.1 cm, apex acute. Nectary connate at base into a tube pointed outward, apex lamellate, margin lobed. Filaments 3.5-4.5 mm; anthers blue, ellipsoid, ca. 2 mm. Ovary obovoid-ellipsoid, 5-6 mm, apex triangular acute. Stigma lobes triangular, decurrent to middle of ovary. Fl. Sep.

Grasslands on hillsides; 3900-5100 m. Xizang (Yadong Xian) [Bhutan, Nepal, Sikkim].