Timaeosia cerastioides (D. Don) Klotzsch.

Herbs perennial, 10--27(--40) cm tall, tomentose. Roots conical, thick, 9--18 cm, fleshy. Stems densely caespitose, ascending. Leaves obovate-spatulate, 0.5--1.5 × 0.3--1.2 cm, both surfaces pubescent, margin ciliate; basal leaves long petiolate; cauline leaves sessile. Cymes terminal, 5--20-flowered; bracts leaflike, ovate, 2--5 mm, margin ciliate. Flowers 4--13 mm in diam.; pedicel 2--9 mm. Calyx green, broadly campanulate, 3--6 mm, lobed for ca. 1/2 its length; lobes ovate or lanceolate, margin ciliate, apex obtuse. Petals lilac or white, pale purple-red 3-veined, obovate-cuneate, 5--8 mm, base narrowed, apex retuse. Stamens shorter than petals. Ovary ovoid. Styles 2(or 3). Capsule ovoid, usually indehiscent. Seeds black, compressed globose, ca. 0.7 mm in diam., minutely tuberculate. Fl. and fr. May--Aug.

Gypsophila sedifolia Kurz (Flora 55: 285. 1872), from Afghanistan, Kashmir, and Pakistan, is similar to G. cerastioides . It has not yet been recorded for China but might be expected to occur in SW Xinjiang and/or W Xizang.

Mixed forests on mountain slopes, forest grasslands, water courses, rubble, roadside fields; 2800--4000 m. S Xizang [Bangladesh, Bhutan, N India, Nepal, N Pakistan, Sikkim].