长柄小芹 chang bing xiao qin

Carum dolichopodum Diels, Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 5: 287. 1912.

Plants 8–15 cm. Rootstock slender, horizontal, 5–20 × 0.2–0.5 cm. Stem solitary, purplish, usually unbranched. Basal petioles 3–6 cm, sheaths ovate, purplish; blade triangular in outline, 3–6 × 2–3 cm, 2–3-pinnate; pinnae 3–5 pairs, basal pinnae petiolate; ultimate segments ovate, 10–15 × 5–8 mm, margins 3-lobed or pinnatifid. Umbels 4–7 cm across, sometimes subtended by a reduced, 3-lobed leaf; bracts absent; rays 4–6, 4–5 cm, stout; bracteoles 2–6, linear-oblanceolate or obovate in outline, 4–7 mm, apex usually 2–3-lobed, or pinnatifid, rarely entire; umbellules 10–18 mm across, 10–15-flowered; pedicels 4–8 mm. Calyx teeth conspicuous, triangular-lanceolate, ca. 0.5 mm. Petals white or purplish, apex obtuse. Young fruit oblong-ovoid, ca. 2 × 1.5 mm (mature fruit unknown); vittae 3 in each furrow, 6 on commissure. Fl. and fr. Jul–Sep.

Alpine meadows, rocks; 3000–4000 m. W Sichuan, NW Yunnan.

This species has reputed medicinal value. The long rhizome, leaf morphology, and divided bracteoles are rather uncharacteristic of Sinocarum, and this species may be better placed elsewhere.