察隅紫堇 cha yu zi jin

Herbs, perennial, 40-50 cm tall; stems and petioles of radical leaves attenuate to filiform underground base. Roots not seen. Stems suberect, branched, with 3 or 4 leaves in upper 2/3. (Radical leaves: petiole ca. 20 cm; blade glaucous abaxially, green adaxially, ovate, ca. 8 cm, tripinnate; pinnae 3 pairs, opposite, petiolulate; pinnules 2 pairs, nearly opposite, petiolulate; tertiary segments nearly sessile, irregularly deeply or slightly lobed; ultimate segments narrowly elliptic or narrowly obovate, apex obtuse, with dense transparent papillae.) Cauline leaves nearly sessile, lower and middle ones bipinnate to pinnate, 5-9 × 3-5 cm; upper ones deeply biternatisect and much smaller; lobes lanceolate, acute. Racemes 12-20-flowered, dense, slightly elongating in fruit; lower bracts 5-11 mm, deeply divided into narrow acute lobes; lowermost sometimes larger, similar to uppermost leaf, upper ones entire. Pedicel 3-6 mm, arcuately recurved in fruit. Sepals ca. 1 × 1 mm, with long narrow teeth. Petals pale purple, with distinct purplish veins, apical keel of outer petals darker; outer petals with rhombic acute limb, crest ca. 1 mm wide, acute, often dentate, not decurrent on spur, reaching apex; upper petal 18-22 mm; spur straight, 12-13 mm, slightly attenuate; nectary ca. 2/5 as long as spur; lower petal ovate (broadest 1/3 from base), 8-9 mm, acute; inner petals 7-8 mm. Stigma marginal papillae few, partly confluent; geminate papillae sublateral (clearly submarginal) and on well-developed rounded basal lobes. Capsule obovoid-oblong, 8-10 × 3-4 mm, veins distinct, 6-8-seeded. Seeds in 2 rows, smooth. Fl. and fr. Jun-Aug.

● Grasslands, forest margins; 3700-4100 m. E Xizang.