云南茴芹 yun nan hui qin

Carum yunnanense Franchet, Bull. Soc. Philom. Paris, sér. 8, 6: 128. 1894; Pimpinella pseudocandolleana H. Wolff.

Plants perennial, 30–60 cm, sparsely hirsute, especially above. Root cylindrical, 10–15 cm. Stems solitary, rarely 2–3, slender, 2–3-branched. Basal petioles 2–10 cm; blade simple, cordate-lanceolate or narrowly triangulate, rarely cordate-ovate, 1.5–7 × 1–5 cm, base faintly cordate or truncate, margins serrate, apex acute. Cauline leaves few, usually 1-pinnate or 3-lobed, lobes lanceolate. Umbels 3–7 cm across; bracts 1–4, linear, or absent; rays 8–20, 2–5 cm, unequal, pubescent; bracteoles 1–10, 1.5–4 mm, ca. equal to or shorter than pedicels; umbellules 7–12 mm across, 10–15-flowered; pedicels 1–5 mm, very unequal. Calyx teeth obsolete. Petals white, obovate or obcordate, apex with incurved lobule. Stylopodium conic; styles 1–1.5 × stylopodium, reflexed. Fruit ovoid, ca. 2 × 1.7 mm, base cordate, surface sparsely pubescent with short papillae; vittae 1–3 in each furrow, 2–4 on commissure. Seed face plane. Fl. May–Jul, fr. Aug–Oct.

Valley forests, scrub by streams, alpine meadows; 1400–3200 m. SW Sichuan, N and S Yunnan.

This species has reputed medicinal value. See the taxonomic note under Pimpinella candolleana.