RUBINA AKHTER

Small erect shrub up to 1 m tall with stout glabrous brandies. Leaves c. 4 x 2 cm, narrowly oblong, glabrous on both surfaces, margin irregularly or sublobate, subsessile. Peduncle up to 3 cm long, rigid, compressed, slightly thickened upward, slightly glandular-pubescent. Bracts c. 4 mm long, narrow much longer than ovary. Bracteoles small, free, glandular-ciliate. Calyx c. 2 mm, lobes minute triangular, glandular. Corolla c. 9 mm long, pale yellow to very stout, gibbous at base, sparsely pubescent Berries never connate, c. 4 mm long, globose, red.

Fl. Per.: June-July.

Type: “In dumetes circa Choupienne,” Jacquemont (P).

Distribution: Pakistan Himalaya, Karakoram, W. Tibet.

A small rigid shrub found in alpine zone above 3500 m on dry rocky slopes.