囊果草 nang guo cao

Leontice vesicaria Willdenow.

Herbs, 5-20 cm tall. Tuber ovoid, globose, or irregular, 2-5 cm in diam. Stem pale brown, terete, shiny at base, with few lanceolate scales at base. Cauline leaves 2; petiole 3-5 cm, sheathed at base; leaf blade 2 or 3 × pinnately compound, pinnules abaxially yellowish green, adaxially deep green, elliptic or obovate, entire, abaxially inconspicuously veined, adaxially 3-5-basinerved, both surfaces glabrous, entire. Raceme terminal, 4-6 cm; peduncle 2-2.4 cm; bracts suborbicular or broadly ovate, apex blunt, fleshy. Pedicel to 1.2 cm, stout, glabrous. Sepals yellow, bluish purple spotted on outside, elliptic or ovate, longer than petals. Petals obovate, base clawed. Stamens distinct; anthers valved. Carpel 1; ovules 2-4. Achene pale purple in upper part, subglobose, large, to 2.5-4.5 cm in diam., bladderlike inflated, indehiscent, with conspicuous reticulate veins. Seeds 2, black-brown. Fl. Apr, fr. May.

Slopes of hills in desert regions, Haloxylon forests; ca. 600 m. Xinjiang [Kazakhstan].