爪花芥 zhao hua jie

Oreoloma sulfureum Botschantzev; Sterigmostemum fuhaiense H. L. Yang; S. violaceum (Botschantzev) H. L. Yang.

Herbs 6-22 cm tall, densely tomentose and glandular throughout; caudex woody, branched, covered with petiolar remains of previous years, 2-10 mm in diam. Stems simple from caudex, simple or branched above. Basal leaves with petioles 1-3 cm; leaf blade linear-lanceolate to lanceolate in outline, 2-7.5 × 0.5-2 cm, margin pinnatifid or pinnatisect, rarely sinuate-dentate, apex subacute; lateral lobes to 7 on each side of midvein, oblong or ovate, 3-10 × 1-4 mm. Cauline leaves few, subsessile, pinnatifid or dentate. Fruiting pedicels stout, slightly narrower than fruit base, 2-4(-6) mm, divaricate. Sepals narrowly oblong, (6-)8-10 × 1.5-2 mm. Petals pink, creamy white, or yellowish, (1-)1.3-1.8 cm × (3-)4-6(-7) mm; claw (7-)9-11 mm. Median filaments (8-)9-11 mm, connate along 0.6-0.8 of their length; lateral filaments 6-7.5(-9) mm; anthers narrowly oblong, 2.5-3.5 mm. Ovules 20-30 per ovary. Fruit cylindric, (1.5-)2.5-3.5 cm × 2-3 mm, straight or curved, widest at base, attenuate to apex; style 3-5 mm; stigma lobes linear, 1-3 mm. Seeds oblong, brown, 2-2.5 × 1-1.3 mm. Fl. Apr-Jun, fr. Jun-Jul.

Mountain slopes; 1000-2200 m. Xinjiang [Mongolia].

A highly variable species in leaf margin, flower color and size, and degree of connation of median filaments. An examination of the type collections of the three "species" united here reveals that the alleged differences in the length of united portions of median filaments, which were used by Botschantzev (loc. cit.) and Yang (Fl. Desert. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 2: 64. 1987) to separate species, are totally unreliable, as is the shape of nectar glands. Yang (loc. cit.) reduced Oreoloma sulfureum to the synonymy of Sterigmostemum sulphureum (Banks & Solander) Bormüller, but the latter is an entirely different species restricted to SW Asia.