平武紫堇 ping wu zi jin

Herbs, perennial, 15-30 cm tall, glabrous. Rhizome 1-2 cm, with many long roots 1-1.5 mm in diam. Stems 1-4, erect to ascending, simple or often branched, with 2-4 leaves in upper 1/2, or rarely 1 long-stalked leaf on lower part. Radical leaves several; petiole 4-12 cm; blade glaucous abaxially, green adaxially, broadly triangular, 3-7 × 4-9 cm, (bi-)triternate; primary leaflets petiolulate; secondary leaflets almost sessile, deeply or slightly 3-divided; lobules obovate or rectangular, rounded or truncate, obscurely mucronulate. Cauline leaves subsessile; blade 2-4.5 cm, like radical leaves. Raceme 3-6 cm, 8-14-flowered; lower bract like uppermost cauline leaf, upward smaller, uppermost ones narrowly oblanceolate and entire, middle bracts 5-10 mm. Pedicel 10-15 mm, erect in fruit. Sepals minute. Petals pale red, purple, or blue; upper petal 12-15(-20?) mm, shortly acuminate, margin repand dentate, crest lacking; spur slightly downcurved, cylindric, 5-7 mm; nectary ca. 2/5 as long as spur; lower petal 8-9 mm, limb rounded, mucronate, without crest, claw cuneate, almost as long as petal lobe; inner petals 7-8 mm. Stigma subquadrangular, with 6 marginal simple papillae; geminate papillae lateral and on well-developed basal lobes. Capsule oblong, 6-11 × 1.5-2 mm, 3-6-seeded; style ca. 1.5 mm. Seeds ca. 1.5 mm, smooth. Fl. and fr. May-Sep.

● Slopes, forest understories, wetlands at water sides; 1100-3800 m. N Sichuan.