长柱无心菜 chang zhu wu xin cai

Herbs small. Roots slender, with numerous branches. Stems slender, 4--10 cm, villous in 2 lines, or brown glandular villous. Leaves aggregated at stem apex; leaf blade broadly linear or linear-lanceolate, 0.5--2 cm × to 2 mm, base connate into a sheath, margin sparsely hairy, apex mucronate. Flowers axillary. Pedicel 0.6--5 cm, glandular pubescent. Sepals 5, lanceolate, 5--10 × 1--1.5 mm, glabrous or glandular pubescent abaxially, base saccate after anthesis, margin broadly white membranous, apex acute, mucronate. Petals 5, white, obovate-orbicular, 5--10 mm, apex obtuse. Stamens 10, slightly shorter than petals; anthers yellow. Ovary subglobose, ca. 2 mm. Styles 2, subulate, 5--7 mm. Fl. Jun--Jul.

* Forest margins, alpine meadows, mountain grasslands, shifting screes; 2800--5000 m. W Sichuan, S Xizang, NW Yunnan.

Three weakly distinguished varieties have been recognized. The distinguishing characters seem to be only a matter of degree, and the variation pattern should be studied in the field. Perhaps this variation (at least for the first two varieties) should not be the basis for formal recognition of taxa.