细软茴芹 xi ruan hui qin

Carum flaccidum (C. B. Clarke) Franchet; Pimpinella duclouxii H. de Boissieu.

Plants annual, 30–60 cm, slender, sparsely puberulent. Taproot, 4–8 × ca. 0.3 cm. Stem branched from base. Basal petioles 0.5–3 mm; blade 1–2-ternate or 1-pinnate, pinnae 2 pairs; ultimate segments oblong-ovate or broad-ovate, 4–5 × 3–5 cm, margins crenate or coarsely serrate. Cauline leaves similar to basal, smaller, 3-lobed, lobes lanceolate. Umbels 2–3.5 cm across, spreading; bracts and bracteoles absent; rays 2–6, 0.5–2 cm, glabrous; umbellules 4–7 mm across, 2–8-flowered; pedicels 0.5–2, elongating to 10 mm in fruit. Calyx teeth obsolete. Petals white, obovate or ovate, apex with incurved lobule. Stylopodium low-conic; styles ca. 1 × stylopodium. Fruit ovoid, ca. 1 × 1 mm, base cordate, surface glabrous (occasionally papillose); vittae 3 in each furrow, 4–6 on commissure. Seed face plane. Fl. Apr–Jun, fr. Jul–Sep. 2n = 20*.

Forests, among shrubs, grassy slopes, alpine meadows; 2200–3800 m. W Sichuan, NW Yunnan [NE India].

Specimens attributed to this taxon have been confused with Trachyspermum scaberulum. Further work is needed to clarify the status of this Indian species in China.