龙场梅花草 long chang mei hua cao

Stems 3-12, slender, to 6 cm, with 1 leaf near apex. Basal leaves 12-25, forming a rosette; petiole 1-2 cm; leaf blade orbicular- or obovate-spatulate or spatulate, 0.7-1.5 cm × 5-9 mm, base attenuate, apex obtuse or subacute, apiculate. Cauline leaf subsessile, broadly obovate, ca. 3 mm wide, 3-veined, apex obtuse. Flower 6-8 mm in diam. Sepals linear-lanceolate, ca. 4 × 1 mm, 1-veined, apex obtuse. Petals white, narrowly obovate-spatulate, ca. 5 × 2 mm, base attenuate into a claw ca. 1 mm, margin entire, apex acute. Anthers broadly ellipsoid, ca. 0.5 mm; staminodes flat, distally sublingulate, ca. 1/2 as long as stamens, ca. 1.25 × 0.3 mm, margin entire, apex obtuse. Ovary superior, conical, ca. 3 × 1.5 mm; stigma 3-lobed. Capsule trigonous-globose, ca. 3 mm in diam., apex acutely trigonous. Seeds ovoid-ellipsoid, ca. 0.4 mm, smooth.

* Guizhou (Longchang).

The present authors have seen no specimens of this species; the above description is based on Evans (Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 13: 173. 1921).