Megadenia bardunovii Popov; M. speluncarum Vorobiev, Voroschilov & Gorovoi.
Herbs stemless or rarely with flowering stems to 3 cm tall, glabrous throughout. Basal leaves rosulate; petiole (0.7-)2-10(-15) cm, slender, often grooved, expanded at base; leaf blade cordate, orbicular, or broadly ovate, (0.5-)1-2(-2.8) × (0.7-)1.5-3(-4) cm, base cordate, rarely obtuse or subtruncate, margin entire or repand, sometimes 3-7-lobed, apex rounded. Cauline leaves absent, if present as bracts then similar to basal ones but smaller. Fruiting pedicels slender, (0.2-)0.4-2(-3) cm, often recurved. Sepals 0.8-0.9 × 0.5-0.6 mm. Petals white, 1-1.4 × 0.5-0.6 mm. Filaments white, 0.4-0.6 mm; anthers orbicular, 0.15-0.25 mm. Fruit didymous, notched at both ends; mericarps violet maculate, transversely ovate or sublenticular, 1.4-2 × 1.7-2.5 mm, distinctly reticulate; style 0.2-0.3 mm, included in apical notch of fruit. Seeds yellowish brown, broadly ovate, 1.3-1.5 × 1-1.3 mm. Fl. and fr. Jun-Aug. 2n = 20.
Steep slopes with semiconsolidated scree, alpine meadows, open scrub; (1000-)3500-4200 m. Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan, Xizang [Russia (Far East, Siberia)].
