梅花草 mei hua cao

Stems 2-4(-7), 12-20(-30) cm, usually with 1 leaf near middle. Basal leaves 3 to numerous; petiole 3-6(-8) cm; leaf blade abaxially greenish, often purple punctate, adaxially deep green, ovate or long ovate, occasionally triangular-ovate, 1.5-3 × 1-2.5 cm, base subcordate, apex rounded-obtuse or acuminate, often apiculate. Cauline leaf sessile, semiamplexicaul, similar to basal leaves, base often with several rusty brown appendages. Flower 2.2-3(-3.5) cm in diam.; hypanthium inconspicuous. Sepals densely purple-brown punctate, elliptic or oblong, 5-8 × 3-5 mm, margin entire, apex obtuse. Petals white, often purple punctate, broadly ovate or obovate, 1-1.5(-1.8) × 0.7-1(-13) cm, base with a short claw, margin entire or occasionally inconspicuously erose, apex rounded-obtuse or shortly acuminate. Anthers ellipsoid, ca. 3 mm; filaments 2.2-7 mm; staminodes to 1 cm, divided into (7-)9-21 filiform rays with globose glands at apex. Ovary superior, ovoid; style very short; stigma 4-lobed. Capsule ovoid. Seeds brown, glossy, oblong. Fl. Jul-Sep, fr. Oct. 2n = 18, (27), 36.

Moist grassy slopes, streamsides, shaded moist places in valleys, grassy fields; 1200-2200 m. Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Shanxi, N Xinjiang [Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Mongolia, Russia; Europe, North America].

Lower Taxa

• Parnassia palustris var. multiseta Ledebour
• Parnassia palustris var. palustris