短柱灯心草 duan zhu deng xin cao

Plants perennial, (3--)5--10(--18) cm tall. Rhizome very short. Stems terete. Cataphylls reddish brown, not shiny. Basal leaves with sheath auricles very short, free portion ca. 0.1 mm; leaf blade slightly flat, sometimes subterete, 3--11 cm × 0.2--1.2 mm. Inflorescences terminal; head solitary, hemispheric, 0.5--1.7 cm in diam., (3--)7--15(--20)-flowered; bracts several, whitish to chestnut brown, ovate to ovate-lanceolate; basal bract obliquely spreading, usually leaflike, 0.4--1(--3) cm, equaling head or sometimes with an aristate point to 3 cm; other bracts shorter than head. Perianth segments straw-colored, ovate-lanceolate, 4--5.5 × 1--1.3 mm, subequal, veins 3, apex obtuse. Stamens 6; filaments whitish to dark brown, ca. 5 mm; anthers 1.2--1.4 mm. Style 1.3--1.8 mm; stigmas subglobose or headlike, very short. Capsule brown, trigonous oblong, 2.5--3.5 mm, 1-loculed, apex obtuse, beaked; beak 1.8--2 mm. Seeds dark brown, subtrigonous ovoid, 0.6--0.7 mm; appendages 2, 0.2--0.8 mm. Fl. Jun--Jul, fr. Aug.

Mountainous regions, moist stony meadows; 3100--4600 m. Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, Nepal, Sikkim].