须弥扇叶芥 xu mi shan ye jie

Cheiranthus himalayensis Cambessèdes in Jacquemont, Voy. Inde 4(Bot.): 14. 1844; Christolea himalayensis (Cambessèdes) Jafri; Ermania himalayensis (Cambessèdes) O. E. Schulz; Oreoblastus himalayensis (Cambessèdes) Suslova.

Plants 4-20 cm tall, subglabrous or densely pilose throughout. Trichomes simple, to 1.5 mm. Stems simple, pilose or glabrous. Basal leaves not fleshy, pilose or glabrous, persistent; petiole 0.4-1.6(-3) cm, not ciliate; leaf blade broadly obovate or spatulate, 4-14 × 3-9 mm, base cuneate or attenuate, margin (3-)5-toothed, apex acute. Cauline leaves similar to basal, or linear to lanceolate, 5-17 × 1-4 mm, often entire, shortly petiolate or subsessile. Racemes 6-25-flowered, bracteate throughout; bracts similar to cauline leaves but smaller, sometimes adnate to pedicel. Fruiting pedicels ascending, straight or curved, 3-10 mm, pilose or glabrous. Sepals free, oblong, 3-4 × 1.2-1.5 mm, caducous, pilose or with a terminal tuft of trichomes, base not saccate, margin membranous. Petals purple or lilac with yellowish center, broadly spatulate, (6-)6.5-8 × 3-4 mm, apex subemarginate; claw 3-4 mm. Filaments white, slightly dilated at base, median pairs 3-4 mm, lateral pair 2-4 mm; anthers ovate, ca. 0.6 mm. Ovules 14-24 per ovary. Fruit lanceolate to lanceolate-linear, (1.7-)2-3.5(-4) cm × (3-)4-6 mm, strongly flattened; valves pilose or glabrous, distinctly veined; septum complete, membranous; style obsolete; stigma 2-lobed. Seeds brown, ovate, (1.5-)1.8-2(-2.3) × 1-1.4 mm, biseriate, minutely reticulate. Fl. Jun-Aug, fr. Jul-Oct.

Alpine tundra, open hills, sandstone scree; 4300-5700 m. Qinghai, Xizang [India, Kashmir, Nepal].

This species was recorded from Xinjiang (Fl. Xinjiang. 2(2): 149. 1995, as Christolea himalayensis), but the present authors have seen no material from that autonomous region.