Convallaria cirrhifolia Wallich, Asiat. Res. 13: 382. 1820; Polygonatum bulbosum H. Léveillé; P. cirrhifoliodes D. M. Liu & W. Z. Zeng; P. fargesii Hua; P. fuscum Hua; P. lebrunii H. Léveillé; P. mairei H. Léveillé (1909, not 1912); P. souliei Hua; P. strumulosum D. M. Liu & W. Z. Zeng; P. trinerve Hua.

Rhizome moniliform or tuberous terete, 1--2 cm thick. Stem erect or scandent, 30--90 cm, glabrous. Leaves in whorls of 3--6, rarely also a few alternate in proximal part of stem, sessile, narrowly linear to linear-lanceolate, very rarely oblong-lanceolate, 4--9(--12) cm × 2--8(--15) mm, apex usually cirrose at anthesis. Inflorescences usually 2-flowered; peduncle 3--10 mm; bracts 1--2 mm, scarious, veinless, or bract absent. Flowers pendulous; pedicel 3--8 mm. Perianth white, greenish, or pale purple, subcylindric, slightly constricted in middle, 8--11 mm; lobes ca. 2 mm. Filaments 0.6--0.8 × ca. 0.15 mm, papillose; anthers 2--2.5 mm. Ovary ca. 2.5 mm. Style ca. 2 mm. Berries red or purple-red, 8--9 mm in diam., 4--9-seeded. Fl. May--Jul, fr. Sep--Oct. 2 n = (20*, 24*), 30* (38).

Rudolf Kamelin (pers. comm.) believes that both Polygonatum fargesii and P. fuscum differ from P. cirrhifolium: P. fargesii has leaves not cirrose apically, perianth white, and is distributed in Bhutan, China, and Sikkim; P. fuscum has stems 30--35 cm tall, never scandent, leaves not cirrose apically, perianth green (or dark green or brown-green), and is endemic to China. One of us (Tamura) considers that P. cirrhifolium of the present sense may be a species in which different lineages are lumped. However, Chen and Tamura together decided to maintain the present circumscription until sufficient morphological variation data have accumulated.

Forests, grassy slopes; 2000--4000 m. Gansu, Guangxi, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sikkim].