细叶亮蛇床 xi ye liang she chuang

Peucedanum wallichianum de Candolle, Prodr. 4: 181. 1830; Cortia wallichiana (de Candolle) Leute; Ligusticum coniifolium de Candolle; L. tenuifolium Franchet; Pleurospermum cicutarium Lindley; Selinum candollei Edgeworth (1846), not de Candolle (1830); S. tenuifolium Wallich ex C. B. Clarke (1879), not Salisbury (1796).

Plants 0.5–1(–1.5) m, stout. Taproot cylindrical, ca. 1 cm thick or more. Stem erect, ribbed, scarcely angled, branched above. Basal petioles 20–30 cm, wholly sheathing; sheaths inflated, 5–10 cm broad, purplish; blade broadly ovate, 20–25 × 15–20 cm, 3-pinnate; pinnae 4–5 pairs; ultimate segments linear, 2–5 × ca. 1 mm. Umbels 6–10 cm across (to 20 cm in fruit); bracts 4–8, linear, caducous; rays (10–)20–35, subequal, 2–5 cm, elongating in fruit; bracteoles 5–12, lanceolate, unequal, longer than umbellules, ascendant, entire or apex 2–3-lobed, margins white membranous; umbellules 20–25-flowered. Calyx teeth linear-lanceolate, 0.5–1 mm. longer than stylopodium. Petals white or pinkish, purplish-red when in bud. Fruit oblong-ovoid; dorsal ribs slightly thickened, lateral ribs winged; vittae 1 in dorsal furrows, 1–3 in lateral furrows, 4–6 on commissure. Fl. Jul–Aug, fr. Sep. 2n = 22.

Forests, montane scrub, grassy slopes; 2600–4200 m. SW Sichuan, S Xizang, NW Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Kashmir, Nepal, Pakistan, Sikkim].

This is a mid- to high-elevation Himalayan species distributed from Pakistan to China. Variation in leaf dissection in both this species and the closely related Selinum candollei de Candolle is complex and complicates identification, particularly in the C Himalayas. These species are in need of taxonomic revision across their whole geographic range. Selinum candollei has not been found in China, but it has been reported to have medicinal properties.