元宝草马先蒿 yuan bao cao ma xian hao

Herbs annual, 7--15 cm tall. Stems 1 to several, erect or outer stems ascending, with 2 lines of hairs. Basal leaves few, small. Stem leaves barely 1 pair, sessile or petiolate; petiole 2--5 mm, whitish long pubescent; leaf blade broadly ovate or triangular-ovate, 0.7--3 X 0.5--2.5 cm, adaxially tinged with purple, pinnatifid; segments 3 or 4 pairs, rounded, crenulate. Inflorescences racemose, short, dense, to 10-flowered; bracts leaflike, much inflated. Pedicel 2--5 mm. Calyx campanulate, ca. 8 mm, long pubescent along veins; lobes 5, unequal, posterior one acute, lateral lobes rounded, shallowly crenate. Corolla dark rose, 1.8--2.2 cm; tube ca. 2 X as long as calyx, slender; galea bent at a right angle apically; beak bent slightly downward, 5--7 mm, slender; lower lip ca. as long as galea, middle lobe hoodlike, others rounded, glabrous. Filaments glabrous throughout. Capsule slightly exceeding calyx, wide, apex short acuminate. Fl. Aug--Sep, fr. Sep--Oct.

* Alpine meadows, forests, among Rhododendron; 3400--4200 m. NW Yunnan.