垂花肋柱花 chui hua lei zhu hua

Swertia stapfii Burkill, J. Proc. Asiat. Soc. Bengal 2: 325. 1906.

Perennials 4-7 cm tall. Rhizomes well developed, horizontal, sheathed by a few blackish remains of old petioles, usually branched. Stems erect, angular, scapiform. Leaves mostly basal; leaf blade spatulate to obovate, 5-11 × 5-7 mm, base narrowed into a short petiole, margin scabrous, apex rounded, veins 1-3. Stem leaves absent or if present then only a pair of small obovate leaves. Flowers terminal, solitary, nodding, rarely with 1 or 2 additional axillary flowers. Flower 5merous. Pedicel 1.5-3 cm, angular. Calyx tube less than 1.5 mm; lobes spatulate to obovate, 4-6 mm, slightly unequal, base narrowed, margin scabrous, apex subrounded, veins indistinct. Corolla pale blue, with conspicuous dark blue lines, ca. 3 cm in diam., tube less than 1.5 mm; lobes broadly obovate, 1.2-1.8 × to 1 cm, apex rounded. Nectary connate at base into a tube pointed outward, apex lamellate, margin lobed. Filaments to 1 cm; anthers blue, ellipsoid, 2-3 mm. Ovary cylindric, 0.9-1.3 cm, apex subacuminate to obtuse. Stigma lobes decurrent to apical part of ovary. Fl. Aug.

Alpine meadows; 4500-5000 m. S and SE Xizang [Bhutan, E India].