娇嫩黄堇 jiao nen huang jin

Herbs, perennial, 30-60 cm tall. Rootstock short, with densely fasciculate wiry roots. Stems erect to ascending, often several, often reddish, branched above, with 2-4 leaves. Radical leaves: petiole 3-14 cm, base vaginate; upper leaves: petiole 2-6 cm (shorter above); blade glaucous abaxially, green adaxially, broadly ovate-deltoid, 4-10 × 6-10 cm, triternate; primary pinnae petiolule 2-4 cm; secondary pinnae petiolule 0.3-2 cm; ultimate leaflets sessile, obovate, 3-10 × 2-7 mm, base cuneate, margin entire, apex obtuse or truncate, slightly mucronate. Racemes 3-4 cm in flower (or lowermost flower more distant), 4-8-flowered; peduncle 4-10 cm; lowermost bract sometimes like upper cauline leaves, middle and upper bracts oblanceolate, 3-10 mm, entire. Pedicel 3-5 mm, straight in flower, recurved in fruit. Sepals 0.5-1 mm, dentate. Corolla yellow; outer petals rather broad and obtuse with 1.5-2 mm wide crest reaching apex and decurrent on spur; upper petal 13-15 mm; spur upturned, cylindric, 7-10 mm, broad (3-3.5 mm wide); nectary ca. 2/3 of spur; inner petals 8-10 mm; dorsal crests rounded, slightly overtopping apex; claw equaling limb. Stigma with 4 apical papillae, near apex with a pair of lateral papillae in conjunction with a pair of geminate papillae; basal lobes rather short. Capsule (immature) oblanceolate, 10-11 × 2-3 mm; style ca. 3 mm. Fl. May-Jun.

Forest understories; 2700-3200 m. SE Xizang (Nangxian, Zariqu) [Bhutan].