SHAHINA A. GHAZANFAR & YASIN J. NASIR

A perennial (? biennial) up to 100 cm tall. Stem erect, fistulas, simple, thick, minutely pubescent below, glabrous above. Leaves in pseudo. whorls at the nodes, 15-70 x 3-15 mm, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, scabrid. Leaf fascicles present in the axils of the leaves. Bracts reducing in size upwards. Inflorescence axis a 50 cm long, more or less glabrous. Flowers 10-15 in number, in congested opposite cymules. Pedicels slender, glabrous, up to 27 mm in fruit. Calyx 10-15(-20) mm long, cyclindrical-clavate, glabrous, teeth subactue, more or less ciliate on the margins; veins greenish. Petals 10-11 mm long, limb entire, claw auriculate. Coronal scales absent. Carpophore c. 3 mm long, glabrous. Capsule included in Seeds c. 1 mm broad, reniform, minutely tubercled, grooved and with a broad black.

Fl. Per.: June-July.

Type: Chitral, Madaghlasht, 9000', Toppin 530 (Holo K).

Distribution: Endemic.

The species does not appear to be related to any other species found in our area. It however bears some resemblance to the European/Turkish S. gigantea L. The main thick stem may suggest that the species is a biennial. Found up to 3000 m.