毛瓣车前 mao ban che qian

Herbs, annual. Taproot tenuous. Leaves and inflorescences villous. Leaves basal; petiole inconspicuous; leaf blade narrowly lanceolate, lanceolate, or oblanceolate, 3-4 cm × 2-3 mm, papery, veins 3, base attenuate, margin entire, apex acuminate. Spikes ovoid to ovoid-ellipsoid, 8-10 mm but to 1.6 cm after anthesis, densely flowered; peduncle 5-12 cm; bracts broadly ovate, ca. 3 mm, keel narrow and slightly projected at apex. Sepals ca. 3 mm, villous, keel thick and not extending to apex; lower sepals lanceolate-ovate, keel as broad as or slightly narrower than lateral lamina; upper sepals very inequilateral. Corolla yellowish, glabrous except lobes; lobes triangular-ovate, ca. 1 mm, erect to patent, outside densely hirsute-villous. Stamens adnate to near apex of corolla tube; anthers yellowish when dry, broadly ellipsoid, 0.7-0.8 mm, slightly exserted. Pyxis ellipsoid, 3-3.5 mm, circumscissile just below middle, with 2 seeds. Seeds yellowish brown, narrowly ellipsoid to narrowly ovoid-ellipsoid, 2.5-3 mm, shiny, with a broad groove on ventral face; cotyledons vertical to ventral side. Fl. Apr-May, fr. May-Jun.

Stony mountain slopes, saline places, open dry pastures; ca. 200 m. N Xinjiang (Shawan) [Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan].