深裂龙胆 shen lie long dan

Perennials 5-10 cm tall, sometimes forming mats. Taproot cylindric, long, usually 3-5 mm in diam. Vegetative stems sometimes prolonged; branches prostrate, stout, with dense brown membranous remnants of old petioles, each with an apical rosette; flowering stems annual, ascending, simple. Basal leaves in 3-6 or more rosettes, crowded in a cushion; petiole 2-3 cm, membranous; leaf blade usually linear-lanceolate, rarely linear or oblanceolate, 2-3.5 cm × 2-4 mm, base narrowed, apex acuminate to obtuse, veins 3. Stem leaves 3-5 pairs, widely spaced; petiole 3-5 mm; leaf blade linear-lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 8-11 × 2-3 mm, base narrowed, apex obtuse, vein 1. Flowers terminal, solitary, sessile or pedicel to 5 mm. Calyx cupular, tube 3.5-4.5 mm; lobes linear-lanceolate, 1-3 mm, unequal, apex obtuse. Corolla white or pale yellow, with pale blue spots, tubular to tubular-campanulate, 1.6-2 cm; lobes elliptic, 1.3-1.7 cm, margin entire, apex obtuse; plicae triangular, 1-1.5 mm, apex acute. Stamens inserted at basal part of corolla tube; filaments 1-1.4 cm; anthers 1.5-2 mm. Ovary narrowly ellipsoid, ca. 1 cm. Style absent; stigma lobes linear. Fl. and fr. Aug-Oct.

Alpine meadows, bamboo thickets, alpine scree; 3300-4200 m. SW Sichuan, SE Xizang, NW Yunnan [NE Myanmar].