紫花龙胆 zi hua long dan

Annuals 3-5 cm tall. Stems ascending, branched from base, glabrous or papillate. Basal leaves with petiole 0.5-1.5 mm; leaf blade ovate to ovate-orbicular, 5-8 × 3-7.5 mm, margin cartilaginous and smooth, apex rounded and mucronate; veins 1-3, distinct. Stem leaves folded; petiole tube 1-2 mm; leaf blade narrowly oblong, rarely lanceolate or lower leaf blades spatulate, 4-6 × 1-2 mm, margin of lower stem leaf blades cartilaginous and of upper leaf blades membranous, apex acuminate to obtuse and apiculate, midvein abaxially prominent. Flowers few. Pedicel 5-10 mm, papillate. Calyx narrowly obconic, 6.5-8 mm; lobes triangular, 2-2.5 mm, margin narrowly membranous, apex acute and apiculate, midvein prominent. Corolla purple, with blackish spots in throat and blackish stripes in tube, narrowly obconic, 1-1.3 (-1.6) cm; lobes ovate-elliptic, 2-3 mm, margin entire, apex obtuse; plicae ovate-elliptic, 1.5-2 mm, margin entire or denticulate, apex obtuse. Stamens inserted at basal part of corolla tube, equal; filaments 4.5-5 mm; anthers curved, ellipsoid, 0.8-1 mm. Style 1.5-2 mm; stigma lobes oblong. Capsules narrowly obovoid to obovoid, 4.5-5 mm; gynophore to 2 cm, slender. Seeds brown, narrowly ellipsoid, 1.2-1.3 mm. Fl. and fr. Jun-Aug.

* River banks, grassland slopes, alpine meadows; 2200-3900 m. S Gansu, S Qinghai, W Sichuan.