飞燕黄堇 fei yan huang jin

Herbs, perennial, (30-)60-120 cm tall. Roots many, linear, stout. Stems erect, stout, with prominent ridges, 4-8 mm at base, upper part many branched, lower part nearly without leaves. Radical leaves few; petiole 10-30 cm; blade very glaucous abaxially, dark green or slightly glaucous adaxially, nearly deltoid, 10-20 × 10-25 cm, 3-4 × ternate; primary pinnae long petiolulate; ultimate leaflets shortly stalked or sessile, deeply 3-5-lobed; lobules lanceolate or lanceolate-oblong, mucronate. Cauline leaves several, lower ones long petiolate, upper ones nearly sessile. Inflorescence paniculate, constituted by many racemes terminal and axillary from uppermost leaves; main raceme often branched at base, 10-25-flowered (branches excluded); bracts lanceolate, 2-7 mm, entire. Pedicel 3-6 mm, slender, straight in flower, recurved in fruit. Sepals white, 0.5-1 × ca. 1 mm, finely dentate. Corolla yellow; outer petals acute, narrowly crested with crest attenuate in both directions and not reaching apex, rarely absent; upper petal 13-16 mm; spur clearly upcurved, cylindric or slightly attenuate; nectary 3/4-5/6 as long as spur, thin; lower petal navicular, 6-8 mm; inner petals 7-8 mm, claw slightly shorter than limb; dorsal crests rounded, clearly overtopping apex. Stigma with narrow apical sinus flanked by 2 long-stipitate closely set papillae; basal lobes prominent. Capsule oblong to obovoid, 10-13 × 2-2.5 mm, apically truncate, 3-5-seeded. Seeds black, shiny, nearly globose, 1.5-2 mm; caruncle small. Fl. and fr. May-Sep.

● Forests, forest margins, shrubs, grasslands, burned areas; 3000-4000 m. SW Sichuan (Lugu Hu, ?Muli), NW Yunnan.