扭果柄龙胆 niu guo bing long dan

Gentiana streptopoda I. B. Balfour & Forrest.

Perennials 3-6 cm tall. Stolons to 20 cm, much branched, somewhat woody. Stems ascending, simple, glabrous. Petiole 3-5 × 2-4 mm, conspicuously broadened toward stem apex, membranous; leaf blade basally narrowed, margin ciliolate, apex obtuse to rounded; vein 1, abaxially distinct. Lower stem leaves widely spaced; leaf blade elliptic to suborbicular, 8-14 × 4-5 mm; uppermost leaves crowded, surrounding base of flower cluster; leaf blade spatulate to obovate, 1.4-2.5 cm × 6-12 mm. Inflorescences (2-)4-8-flowered. Calyx tube narrowly obconic, 0.9-1.1 cm, membranous, slightly split on 1 side; lobes triangular, 2-4 mm, unequal, ciliolate, apex acute. Corolla blue, tubular, 2.6-3 cm; lobes ovate, 4-5 mm, margin entire or denticulate, apex obtuse; plicae obliquely triangular to truncate, 0.8-1 mm, margin entire or denticulate. Stamens inserted at middle of corolla tube; filaments 6.5-8 mm; anthers ellipsoid, 1-1.2 mm. Style 3-4 mm; stigma lobes linear. Capsules ellipsoid, 1.2-1.5 cm; gynophore to 3.7 cm. Seeds light brown, ellipsoid to subglobose, 0.6-0.8 mm; seed coat with spongy complex pits. Fl. and fr. Aug-Oct.

Grassland slopes; 3600-4500 m. NW Yunnan [NE Myanmar]

Gentiana harrowiana appears to intergrade with G. chinensis.