紫背堇菜 zi bei jin cai

Herbs perennial, acaulescent, 3-8 cm tall, usually glabrous. Rhizome short. Leaves caespitose, ascending, sometimes erect; stipules subulate-lanceolate or subulate-linear, base adnate to petioles, remotely glandulous-ciliate, membranous; petiole 2-8 cm; leaf blade abaxially usually purplish, adaxially deep green, sometimes white variegated on veins, narrowly triangular-ovate, 2-5 × 1-3 cm, both surfaces glabrous or rarely pubescent, base cordate, margin shallowly serrate, apex acute. Pedicel 5-8 cm. Flowers red-purple, ca. 1.5 cm in diam. Sepals broadly lanceolate, 4-7.5 mm, appendages ca. 1 mm, apex truncate or rounded. Petals 8-12 mm; lateral ones glabrous or rarely sparsely bearded; spur usually slightly curved upward, 5-7 mm, slender. Ovary ovoid, glabrous. Fl. Mar-Apr, fr. May-Jul.

Forest understories in valleys; below 1000 m. Anhui, Fujian, Jiangxi, Zhejiang [Japan, S Korea].