叶苞紫堇 ye bao zi jin

Herbs, ?biennial, 10-40 cm tall, glabrous or slightly papillose. Stems several, ascending, slender, leafy and branched from base. Leaves often more crowded toward base; petiole 3-9 cm, thin, with short broad membranous finely denticulate auricles at base; blade glaucous abaxially, green adaxially, orbicular-triangular, 1.5-5 × 2-5 cm, thin, bi-(tri-)ternate; primary leaflets shortly petiolate; secondary subsessile, broadly ovate, ± cuneate at base, entire to ± 3-divided, lobes prominently crenate-dentate with 3-10 rounded mucronate teeth. Raceme 2-4-flowered, very lax in fruit; lowermost bract: petiole 1.5-4 cm, blade like cauline leaf; upper bracts much smaller, uppermost simple, serrate. Pedicel 4-6 mm in flower, 8-25 mm in fruit, slender, flexuous. Sepals minute, deeply divided. Flowers pale purple to light blue or white. Outer petals without crest, apex ± dentate, obtuse, mucronate; upper petal 9-13(-15) mm; spur straight, cylindric, 5-7 mm; nectary thin, 1/3(-1/2) as long as spur; lower petal 7(-10) mm, claw narrow, straight or with basal pouch, limb rounded; inner petals 7(-8) mm, dorsal crests broad, overtopping apex. Stigma wider than long, apex with 4-6 distinct marginal simple papillae; geminate papillae lateral, submarginal; rounded basal corners without papillae. Capsule linear, 15-25 × 1.5-2 mm, 10-18-seeded, not reflexed from erect pedicel; style ca. 1.5 mm. Seeds in 1 row, 1.4-1.5 mm, smooth. Fl. and fr. Apr-Jul.

● Deciduous rich forests on slopes, clearings; 1100-2900 m. SE Gansu (Wenxian), N Sichuan.

A specimen without locality (E. H. Wilson 3190, K) deviates in having larger flowers (15 mm), longer nectary (1/2 of spur), and entire outer petals; it was recorded as a "climber in shady place."