Gouffeia holosteoides C. A. Meyer, Verz. Caucasus Pfl. 217. 1831; Arenaria holosteoides (C. A. Meyer) Edgeworth.

Stems 40--100 cm tall, longitudinally striate, middle and distal internodes ca. 10 cm, glandular pubescent. Leaves linear-lanceolate, 3--7 cm × 2--5(--10) mm, adaxially pilose, densely so at midvein, base attenuate, margin glandular pubescent, apex acuminate. Panicle of cymes terminal or axillary, spreading; bracts lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, herbaceous. Pedicel 1--2 (--3) cm, slender, densely glandular pubescent. Sepals linear-lanceolate, 4--5 mm, abaxially sparsely glandular pubescent, margin narrowly membranous, apex acute. Petals white, broadly obovate, subequaling or slightly longer than sepals, margin entire. Styles 2. Capsule globose-ovoid, shorter than sepals, 2-valved. Seeds red-brown, compressed ovate. Fl. May--Jul, fr. Jul--Aug. 2n = 34, 68.

This species is used medicinally.

Mountain slope grasslands, farmland, wastegrounds, forest margins, ditch sides, Gobi Desert; 1200--4100 m. Gansu, Henan, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Xizang [Afghanistan, NW India, Kashmir, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan; C and SW Asia].