阿里山獐牙菜 a li shan zhang ya cai

Swertia alata Hayata (1908), not (Royle ex D. Don) C. B. Clarke (1883).

Annuals to 90 cm tall. Roots yellow-brown, fibrous. Stems erect, to 8 mm in diam., subquadrangular, narrowly winged on angles, branched. Basal leaves withered at anthesis. Stem leaves sessile or subsessile, lanceolate to oblong, 4-8 × to 3 cm, thin herbaceous, base rounded, apex acute to obtuse, veins 3; uppermost leaves much smaller; leaf blade lanceolate, apex acuminate. Inflorescences panicles of cymes, spreading branched, many flowered. Flowers 4merous. Pedicel erect, 0.5-1.5 cm, thickened apically, with narrow wings. Calyx tube 1-2 mm; lobes lanceolate, 5-10 mm, apex acuminate; veins 3, prominent. Corolla pale yellow-green, veins purple, tube 1-2 mm; lobes lanceolate, 6-8 mm, apex acuminate. Nectaries 1 per corolla lobe, pocket-shaped, with an orbicular scale and many, minutely hairy, short fimbriae at apex of pocket. Filaments ca. 3 mm; anthers ellipsoid, ca. 1 mm. Style short, distinct; stigma lobes capitate. Capsules ovoid-ellipsoid, ca. 1 cm. Seeds brown, ovoid, ca. 0.6 mm; seed coat rugose. Fl. and fr. Oct-Nov.

* Forests; 2000-3000 m. C and E Taiwan.