18. Parnassia chinensis Franchet, Bull. Soc. Bot. France. 44: 252. 1897.
中国梅花草 zhong guo mei hua cao
Stems 1-4, 8-16 cm, with 1 leaf near middle. Basal leaves usually 3-8; petiole 1.5-3.5(-5) cm; leaf blade abaxially gray-green, purple punctate, adaxially brown-green, usually reniform or ovate-reniform, occasionally ovate-cordate, 0.6-1.1 × 0.75-1.4 cm, distinctly 3-5-veined abaxially, base deeply cordate, apex rounded, sometimes obtuse or emarginate. Cauline leaf sessile, semiamplexicaul, abaxially densely purple-brown punctate, ovate-cordate, 4-9 × 4-8 mm, base often with several rusty brown appendages. Flower 1-1.4 cm in diam.; hypanthium turbinate. Sepals densely purple punctate, ovate or oblong, 3-5 × 2.5-3.5 mm, margin subentire, apex acute. Petals white, brown punctate, broadly obovate, 1-1.15 cm × ca. 6 mm, base attenuate into a claw 1.2-2 mm, margin densely long fimbriate or lacerate-fimbriate proximally, entire, undulate, or irregularly crenate distally, apex emarginate. Anthers oblong, ca. 0.8 mm; filaments 4-6 mm; staminodes broadly spatulate, flat, ca. 2.5 mm, stalk ca. 1.5 × 1.2 mm, lamina ca. 1 × 1.8 mm, 3-lobed at apex. Ovary depressed globose, apex abruptly contracted into style; style ca. 1.2 mm; stigma 3-lobed. Capsule unknown. Fl. Jul-Aug.
Scrub, alpine meadows, slopes; 3600-4200 m. C Sichuan, SE Xizang, NW Yunnan [Bhutan, N Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim].
