棒腺虎耳草 bang xian hu er cao

Hirculus propaguliferus (Harry Smith) Losinskaja; Saxifraga muliensis Handel-Mazzetti; S. propagulifera Harry Smith.

Stem 0.6-8.5 mm, glandular hairy, glands clavate. Stolons arising from axils of basal leaves, 3-12 cm, sparsely glandular pilose, apex usually gemmiferous. Basal leaves aggregated into a rosette, narrowly elliptic or narrowly obovate to subspatulate, 4.5-9 × 1.6-3 mm, subcarnose, both surfaces glabrous, margin eglandular or glandular ciliate (glands clavate), apex mucronate. Cauline leaves remote, oblong or lanceolate to oblanceolate-linear, 5-10 × 1.0-2.5 mm, subcarnose, both surfaces glabrous or abaxially glandular hairy, margin glandular ciliate, apex mucronate. Flower solitary, or cyme corymbose, 2-10-flowered, 0.8-2.5 cm; branches 1.8-2.3 cm, 2- or 3-flowered; pedicels 2-6 mm, glandular hairy. Sepals erect, broadly to narrowly ovate, 1.8-3.8 × 1-2 mm, carnose, abaxially and marginally glandular hairy, glands clavate, veins 3-6, confluent or not at apex, apex obtuse or acute. Petals red, pink, or yellow, elliptic, or ovate to broadly so or broadly obovate, 1.2-2.6 × 1-2 mm, leathery, 2-callose, 3-veined, base abruptly narrowed into a claw 0.2-0.8 mm, apex usually obtuse, rarely acute. Male flowers: stamens 1.6-2 mm; pistil degenerate. Female flowers: stamens degenerate, 0.6-1 mm; ovary semi-inferior, 3-3.5 mm, with an annular nectary disc; styles ca. 1 mm. Fl. and fr. Jun-Sep.

Picea forests, scrub, stony alpine meadows, boulders, screes, rock crevices; 3000-5400 m. S Qinghai, W Sichuan, E and S Xizang, NW Yunnan [Nepal].

Saxifraga consanguinea is extremely close to the Himalayan S. pilifera J. D. Hooker, from which it differs chiefly in having basal leaves adaxially glabrous (vs. glandular pubescent). However, further study may show that the two taxa cannot be distinguished.