头序大黄 tou xu da huang

Herbs short, 2-8 cm tall. Roots stout, 1-3 cm in diam. Stem absent. Basal leaves 1, rarely 2; leaf blade purple-red abaxially, dark green adaxially, reniform-orbicular, 2-3 × 3-4 cm, leathery, abaxially glabrous or muricate, basal veins 5-7, stout, conspicuously raised abaxially, base cordate, margin entire, apex obtuse, rarely retuse. Panicle headlike, 1-2 cm in diam.; rachis solitary, ca. 5 cm, 1.5-2.5 mm in diam., glabrous or muricate. Pedicel short. Flowers dense. Tepals 6, not spreading, light green with white margin, obovate or oblong, subequal, 3-3.5 × ca. 2 mm, fleshy. Stamens 8 or 9, subequal to perianth; filaments adnate to disk; anthers oblong-elliptic, ca. 1 mm. Ovary nearly rhomboid; style lateral spreading, not reflexed; stigma inflated. Fruit broadly ovoid, with marks on both sides at upper part; wings narrow. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Aug-later.

Slopes; 4500-5000 m. C and S Xizang [Sikkim].