少腺爪花芥 shao xian zhao hua jie

Sterigmostemum eglandulosum (Botschantzev) H. L. Yang; S. grandiflorum K. C. Kuan.

Herbs (6-)10-22(-30) cm tall, densely tomentose, sparsely glandular on sepals and sometimes on pedicels and leaf blades, eglandular elsewhere, rarely densely glandular throughout; caudex woody, branched, covered with petiolar remains of previous years. Stems simple from caudex, simple or branched above. Basal leaves with petioles (1-)2-5(-7) cm; leaf blade broadly oblong or broadly oblanceolate, (1-)2-8(-10) × (0.5-)1.5-3(-4) cm, margin entire or repand, apex rounded or obtuse. Cauline leaves absent or few, shortly petiolate, entire. Fruiting pedicels stout, slightly narrower than fruit base, (4-)6-12(-15) mm, divaricate. Sepals narrowly oblong, (0.8-)1-1.5 cm × 2-3 mm. Petals pink, creamy white, or yellowish, (1.5-)1.7-2.2 cm × 4-6 mm; claw 1-1.5 cm. Median filaments 1.1-1.5 cm, connate along 0.5-0.9 of their length; lateral filaments 0.8-1.2 cm; anthers narrowly oblong, 3-4 mm. Ovules 40-50 per ovary. Fruit cylindric, (3-)4-7(-8) cm × 2-3 mm, straight or curved, attenuate to apex; style 2.5-6(-8) mm; stigma lobes linear, 2.5-4.5 mm. Seeds oblong, brown, 2-3 × 1-1.3 mm. Fl. Jun-Aug, fr. Jul-Aug.

* Slopes, dry gravelly valleys, sandy roadsides; 3000-4300 m. Gansu, Qinghai, Xinjiang.

Both Oreoloma eglandulosum and Sterigmostemum grandiflorum were published in 1980, the former in March (thus taking priority) and the latter in August. In his protologue of O. eglandulosum, Botschantzev indicated that the plants are eglandular. However, the holotype and other collections annotated by him all have the sepals subapically sparsely glandular. The holotype of S. grandiflorum has sparsely glandular leaves, pedicels, and sepals. Evidently the density of glands is not a reliable character for the separation of species.