小距紫堇 xiao ju zi jin

Herbs, perennial, often very glaucous at high elevations, 10-30 cm tall, glabrous; stems and petioles of radical leaves attenuate to filiform underground base. Storage roots in dense fascicle, spindle-shaped, 10-25 × 3-4 mm, sessile or shortly stalked. Stems 1 or 2(-7), simple, very rarely with 1 or 2 branches, with 2-4 leaves in upper 1/2. Radical leaves 3-6, often rather conspicuous at flowering time; petiole 4-11 cm, slender; blade orbicular to triangular, (1-)2-4 × (1-)3-6 cm, slightly thick, (ternate to) biternate; pinnae stalked, pinnules sessile, deeply cut into lobes oblong to obovate, 4-10 mm, mucronate. Cauline leaves 2-4, alternate, decreasing in size upward; lowermost ones petiolulate or subsessile; middle and upper ones sessile; blade triangular, lower to 3 cm, biternate to sub-bipinnate; leaflets cut into obovate to oblanceolate acute lobes 0.5-1.5 cm. Raceme 4-10 cm, 10-20-flowered, soon elongating; lower bracts like uppermost cauline leaf; upper ones oblanceolate, slightly dentate to entire. Pedicel 5-12(-17) mm, recurved in fruit. Sepals 0.2-0.5 × 0.5-1 mm, deeply divided. Corolla blue to pinkish or purplish blue; inner petals often darker at apex, but dorsal crest pale; outer petals narrow, acute, with 0.5-1 mm wide, acute crest overtopping apex; upper petal 14-23 mm; spur slender, tapering to usually gracefully downcurved apex; nectary upcurved, 1/4-1/3 as long as spur, very thin; lower petal rhombic, 8-9 mm, with small peg at base; inner petals 7-9 mm, dorsal crest white, very slightly overtopping apex. Stigma square, slightly emarginate, marginal papillae 4; geminate papillae lateral (submarginal) and on basal lobes. Capsule elliptic, 7-10 × 2-2.5 mm, 2-8-seeded; style ca. 2.5 mm. Seeds 1.1-1.2 mm, smooth; elaiosome small. Fl. and fr. Jun-Sep.

● Limestone cliffs, among shrubs, mountain slopes, low alpine scree; 2700-4100 m. SW Sichuan, NW Yunnan.

This species is variable depending upon elevation and habitat. Plants growing in scree in Yulong Xueshan (Lijiang, NW Yunnan) are small, multi-stemmed, with short spurs.