菔根龙胆 fu gen long dan

Gentiana sarcorrhiza Ling & Ma ex T. N. Ho.

Perennials 1-4 cm tall. Roots fusiform, 1.5-4.5 cm × 3-4 mm, fleshy. Stems purple, erect, as high as to slightly higher than basal leaves, simple or apically few branched, cespitose, densely papillate. Leaves with petiole tube 0.7-1 mm, margin ciliolate, abaxially puberulent; leaf blade linear-lanceolate, elliptic, or narrowly obovate, abaxially glabrous, adaxially minutely and densely papillate, margin indistinctly cartilaginous and ciliate, apex acuminate and cuspidate, midvein prominent and densely hirsute. Basal leaves crowded, leaf blades 1.2-2.5 cm × 3-9 mm. Stem leaves 1-3 pairs, widely spaced; leaf blade 4-10 × 1.5-2.5 mm. Flowers 1-3, subsessile. Calyx narrowly obconic, 5-7 mm, tube outside puberulent; lobes linear-lanceolate, 2-3 mm, outside glabrous, margin cartilaginous and densely ciliate, midvein prominent and hirsute, apex acuminate and cuspidate, apically puberulent. Corolla pale blue-purple, funnelform, 1-1.5 cm; lobes ovate, 2-3 mm, margin entire, apex obtuse; plicae ovate-oblong, 1.5-2 mm, margin denticulate, apex truncate. Stamens inserted at middle of corolla tube, equal; filaments 2.5-3 mm; anthers linear, 2-2.2 mm. Style 0.8-1 mm; stigma lobes semiorbicular. Capsules narrowly obovoid, 2.5-3 mm; gynophore to 7 mm. Seeds brown, ellipsoid, 0.6-1 mm. Fl. and fr. Apr-Jul.

* Grassland slopes; 1500-1900 m. SW Sichuan, C and NW Yunnan

Gentiana napulifera is similar to G. loureiroi. Although T. N. Ho recognizes both as distinct species, J. S. Pringle considers G. napulifera to be synonymous with G. loureiroi.