漆姑无心菜 qi gu wu xin cai

Herbs annual. Roots slender. Stems erect, dichotomously branched at base, 2--4 cm, glabrous, rarely sparsely glandular pubescent proximally on inflorescence. Leaf blade linear-saccate, 4--5 × 1--2 mm, midvein inconspicuous, base narrowed, apex obtuse. Flowers terminal, or axillary in trichotomous cymes; bracts similar to leaves but smaller, 2--3 × ca. 1 mm, base narrowed, apex acute. Pedicel shorter than bracts at anthesis, longer than them in fruit. Sepals 4, rarely 5 (when 2 sepals wider), narrowly ovate, 2--2.5 × 1--1.5 mm, sparsely glandular villous, 1-veined, base thickened, saccate, margin membranous, apex obtuse. Petals 4(or 5), only 2 or 3 fully developed, white, narrowly saccate or obovate, 2--2.5 × ca. 1 mm, apex emarginate or irregularly dentate. Floral disc saucer-shaped, with 4 green glands. Stamens 8, sometimes 5, 2/3--3/4 as long as sepals; anthers ochre-colored. Ovary ellipsoid, ca. 1.5 mm; ovules 6. Styles 2, ca. 1 mm; stigma ellipsoid. Capsule ovoid-conic, longer than persistent sepals, 2-valved; valves 2-cleft at apex. Seeds 6, flat, ca. 1 mm in diam. Fl. and fr. Jul--Sep.

* SW Qinghai, W Sichuan, SW Xinjiang, E and N Xizang.