北岭黄堇 bei ling huang jin

Herbs, biennial, 0.6-1 m tall, glabrous. Taproot swollen, like a tiny carrot. Stem sulcate, leafy and branched, especially above. Basal leaves early withering; petiole of middle and upper leaves 1-5 cm (or longer in shade forms); blade glaucous abaxially, ovate, 5-12 × 3-8 cm, bi-(tri-)pinnate; primary leaflets distant, petiolulate; secondary leaflets once to twice ternate, lobes broadly obovate, obtuse. Racemes 4-5 cm, 10-22-flowered; bracts ovate to narrowly ovate, small, 2-3 mm, apex entire. Pedicel 2-3 mm. Sepals ca. 0.5 mm, rounded, finely dentate. Corolla yellow; outer petals subacute, with obtuse crest reaching or slightly overtopping apex; upper petal 17-20 mm; spur slightly sigmoidally curved, cylindric, 12-14 mm; nectary 2/3-4/5 as long as spur; lower petal shallowly saccate, base shortly clawed; inner petals 7-8 mm. Stigma rectangular, with 4 apical papillae, and lateral and basal geminate papillae. Capsule narrowly obovoid-cylindric, 8-12 × 1.5-2 mm, 2-6-seeded; style 2(-2.5) mm. Seeds in 1 row, ca. 1.5 mm, smooth. Fl. and fr. Jul-Sep.

● Roadsides and grasslands of forest districts; 1500-2700 m. Chongqing (Chengkou), SE Gansu (Dangchuan, Tianshui), W Hubei (Shennongjia), S Ningxia (Guyuan, Longde), S Shaanxi.