窄叶缬草 zhai ye xie cao

Valeriana stenoptera var. cardaminea Handel-Mazzetti.

Plants ca. 10 cm tall, infrequently stoloniferous. Rhizomes reduced; roots 3-6, fascicled, 1.5-2 mm in diam. Stems solitary, simple, erect, sparsely retrorsely puberulent below and at nodes above. Lower cauline leaves long petiolate; petiole 3-4 cm; blade obovate to ovate, 1-2 cm, undivided or with 1 or 2 pairs of small segments at base, margin serrulate. Middle and upper cauline leaves long petiolate to shortly petiolate or sessile; blade oblong or oblong-lanceolate, 2-5 × 1-2 cm, pinnatisect; segments 5-15, linear to linear-lanceolate, 12-20 × 1-2 mm, sparsely puberulent, margin entire or incised. Inflorescence capitate, becoming lax in fruit, 6-12 × 2-8 cm; bracts linear-lanceolate, sparsely dentate; bracteoles as long as or slightly shorter than achenes. Corolla rose, funnelform; tube 1.5-3 × 0.8-1.2 mm, inside villous; lobes elliptic, 1.5-2 × ca. 1 mm. Stamens and style exserted. Achenes ovoid-ellipsoid, ca. 4 mm, often pubescent. Fl. Jul-Aug, fr. Aug-Sep.

● Grassy slopes, forest margins, by water; 3000-4000 m. W Sichuan, Xizang, NW Yunnan.