轮叶沟子荠 lun ye gou zi ji

Cardamine verticillata Jeffrey & W. W. Smith, Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 8: 120. 1913; Braya verticillata (Jeffrey & W. W. Smith) W. W. Smith; Staintoniella verticillata (Jeffrey & W. W. Smith) H. Hara.

Herbs (4-)6-15(-23) cm tall, sparsely to moderately pubescent, rarely glabrous. Root narrowly fusiform-linear, fleshy, base with oblong or ovate scalelike leaves 3-7 × 1-2.5 mm. Stems erect, often solitary from fleshy root, lowermost leafless part (0.5-)4-10(-15) cm. Leaves glabrous, lowermost cauline leaves verticillate, others opposite or alternate; petioles (0.4-)0.6-2 cm, gradually shorter upward; leaf blade oblong, rarely oblanceolate, 0.5-1.5(-2.5) cm × 2-7(-9) mm, gradually reduced in size upward, base obtuse or rarely attenuate, margin entire, apex rounded. Racemes densely flowered, elongated considerably in fruit, bracteate throughout; bracts leafy, smaller than cauline leaves; rachis sparsely pubescent with retrorse trichomes 0.4-0.6 mm. Fruiting pedicels glabrous, slender, straight or curved, (4-)6-12(-18) mm. Sepals oblong, 2.5-3.5(-4) × 1.5-2 mm, caducous, membranous at margin, sparsely ciliolate near apex with trichomes 0.05-0.1 mm, glabrous or distally sparsely pubescent with trichomes to 0.5 mm. Petals white or rarely lavender, broadly obovate, (7-)8-9(-10) × (3.5-)4.5-6 mm, cuneate or clawlike base to 4 mm, apex emarginate. Filaments white or lavender, (3-)3.5-4.5 mm, dilated at base; anthers ovate, 0.6-0.8 mm. Ovules 4-8 per ovary. Fruit ovate or oblong, strongly latiseptate, not torulose, 7-13 × 4-7 mm, obtuse or cuneate at base; valves membranous, glabrous, often distinctly veined, smooth; replum widely and evenly expanded throughout; septum absent; style slender, (1-)2-3 mm. Seeds 3-8, brown, oblong, foveolate, compressed, 1.8-2.2 × 1.2-1.4 mm; cotyledons accumbent. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Jul-Aug.

* Scree, cliff ledges, glaciers, open stony moorland, siliceous scree slopes; 3800-5200 m. Xizang, Yunnan.

This species was recorded in FRPS (as Staintoniella verticillata) from Qinghai and Sichuan, but the present authors have seen no material from those provinces.