紫叶兔耳草 zi ye tu er cao

Herbs, 5-18 cm tall. Lateral roots to 25 cm, fleshy; root crown with remnants of old petioles. Rhizomes to 6 cm. Leaves basal, subleathery; petiole abaxially purple-red, 4-7(-11) cm, narrowly winged, base much dilated into a sheathlike scale; leaf blade reniform, orbicular, or ovate, 4-7 cm, abaxially purple-red, base cordate, truncate, or broadly cuneate, margin coarsely crenate, apex rounded to obtuse. Scapes 1-5, ascending, nearly as long as leaves; spikes ovoid, 1.5-2.5 cm; bracts densely imbricate, obovate to suborbicular, to 1.5 cm, subleathery, enclosing flowers. Calyx lower side 2-lobed; lobes lanceolate-oblong, margin finely fimbriate. Corolla blue, ca. 6 mm; tube straight, as long as limb; lower lip lobes 2 or 3, lanceolate; upper lip ovate, emarginate or 2-lobed. Stamens exserted. Stigma capitate. Fruit elliptic-oblong, ca. 7 mm. Fl. and fr. Jul-Aug.

* Alpine grassland, sandy and gravelly areas; 4500-5200 m. W Sichuan, NW Yunnan.