小马铃苣苔 xiao ma ling ju tai

Perantha minor Craib, Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 10: 213. 1918.

Petiole to 8 cm, densely pale brown woolly; leaf blade rhombic-ovate to elliptic or lanceolate, 1.6-4.8 X 0.6-1.9 cm, adaxially glabrous, abaxially densely pale brown woolly, base cuneate to subcordate, margin coarsely crenate to coarsely dentate or serrate, apex acute to rounded; lateral veins 4-6 on each side of midrib, indistinct. Cymes 2-8-flowered; peduncle 6-11 cm, translucent to purple-red glandular pubescent; bracts 2, deciduous, ovate to linear, 0.5-2 X 0.2-0.5 mm, pubescent, margin entire. Pedicel 0.6-1.8 cm. Calyx segments triangular to oblong, 2-2.5 mm, margin entire. Corolla yellow, 1.3-1.6 cm, outside sparsely glandular pubescent to glabrescent; tube cylindric, narrowed at mouth, 1-1.3 cm X 4-6 mm; limb 2-lipped; adaxial lip shallowly 2-lobed, lobes 3-4 X 2-3 mm; abaxial lip lobes 3-4.5 X 1.5-2 mm. Stamens adnate to corolla 1.8-4 mm above base, 3.5-7 mm; filaments slender, glabrous; anthers broadly oblong, 2-loculed, dehiscing longitudinally, connective glabrous; staminode 1, ca. 1.5 mm. Disc ca. 2 mm, shallow denticulate. Pistil 0.8-1.2 cm, glabrous. Stigma 1, disc-shaped. Capsule 2.5-2.8 cm. Fl. May-Aug, fr. Jul-Aug.

* Dry shady rocks on cliffs in valleys; 2800-3100 m. SW Sichuan (Muli Xian), Yunnan (Lijiang Xian).

Oreocharis minor is very closely related to O. aurantiaca. Indeed, the only character which separates them is adaxial leaf surface glabrous in the former. In the opinion of Weitzman and Skog, O. minor deserves, at most, recognition as a variety of O. aurantiaca.