新疆梅花草 xin jiang mei hua cao

Parnassia subacaulis Karelin & Kirilov.

Stems 2 or 3(-5), 7.5-25 cm, with 1 leaf near base. Basal leaves (2-)4; petiole 0.5-1.8 cm; leaf blade abaxially greenish, adaxially deep green, ovate or long ovate, 1-2.5 × 0.6-1.5 cm, conspicuously 3-5-veined abaxially, base truncate, subcordate, or attenuate, apex obtuse. Cauline leaf sessile, semiamplexicaul, similar to basal ones but slightly smaller, occasionally with a few caducous, rusty brown, hairlike appendages at base. Flower ca. 2 cm in diam.; hypanthium campanulate. Sepals lanceolate, ca. 3.5 × 1.5 mm, 3-veined, margin entire, apex obtuse. Petals white, brown veined, obovate, rarely spatulate, 0.6-1.3 cm × 5-6 mm, 5-veined, base attenuate into a claw ca. 1.5 mm. Anthers oblong, ca. 1.2 mm; filaments ca. 3 mm; staminodes flat, 2-2.7 mm, stalk 0.7-0.8 mm, lamina ca. 1.9 × 1 mm, 3-lobed, lobes parallel, clavate, central one ca. 0.6 mm, longer than lateral ones, truncate or rounded at apex. Ovary semi-inferior, ovoid or ovoid-pyriform; style very short; stigma 3-lobed, lobes oblong. Capsule brown punctate. Seeds brown, glossy, oblong. Fl. Jul-Aug, fr. Sep. 2n = 18*, 36.

Picea forest margins, shaded places, meadows by streams in valleys; 2500-2600 m. C Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia (Siberia)].

In habit, this species resembles Parnassia nubicola and P. trinervis. However, P. laxmannii differs in having the central staminode lobe ca. 0.6 mm, longer than the lateral ones, with the apex truncate or rounded.