阿拉套穗花 a la tao sui hua

Veronica alatavica Popov, Byull. Moskovsk. Obshch. Isp. Prir., Otd. Biol. 47: 87. 1938.

Rhizomes branched, woody. Stems gray, erect or ascending, numerous, cespitose, 30-50 cm tall, simple, sometimes with sterile branches from leaf axil, densely with appressed white hairs. Leaves opposite; petiole to 1 cm; leaf blade elliptic, 2-5 X 0.8-2 cm, hairy, abaxially more densely, margin deeply cut or dentate. Inflorescences ca. 5 cm in flower. Pedicel less than 1 mm in flower. Corolla white, ca. 5 mm; tube ca. 2 mm; lobes apically thickened and reflexed, upper lobe narrowly ovate, other 3 lobes lanceolate. Stamens conspicuously exserted. Ovary narrowly ovoid, hispid with multicellular hairs. Fl. Jul-Aug.

Mountain slopes; 1500-2500 m. Xinjiang (Shawan Xian) [Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan].