毛果草 mao guo cao

Eritrichium densiflorum Duthie, Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew 1912: 39. 1912.

Herbs annual, 3-6 cm tall. Stems usually strongly branched from base, appressed pubescent. Basal leaves petiolate; stem leaves sessile or nearly so, ovate to elliptic or narrowly obovate, 5-12 × 2-5 mm, pilose, base attenuate, apex obtuse or acute; veins obscure. Inflorescences terminal, many flowered, to 3 cm in fruit. Pedicel ca. 1 mm. Calyx ca. 2 mm, to 3 mm in fruit; lobes somewhat unequal, linear, base longitudinally keeled. Corolla blue, glabrous; tube ca. as long as calyx; throat yellow, with 5 appendages slightly 2-cleft; limb ca. 3 mm wide; lobes spreading, obovate, 1-1.3 mm, apex obtuse, sometimes retuse. Anthers ovoid, ca. 0.3 mm. Nutlets light brown, narrowly ovoid, ca. 1.2 mm, short appressed pubescent along wrinkles, abaxially slightly keeled along center line; attachment scar narrowly ovate. Seeds brown, ovoid, slightly dorsiventrally compressed. Fl. Aug.

Rocky slopes; 4000-4500 m. W Sichuan, S Xizang [Bhutan, N India, Nepal, Pakistan].