野生堇菜 ye sheng jin cai

Herbs annual or biennial, 5-50 cm tall. Stems erect to ascending, simple or with ascending branches from base, very sparsely puberulous. Stipules 2-40 mm, pinnatipartite, terminal segments largest, often leaflike, lateral ones linear to narrowly lanceolate; leaf blade 0.5-6.5 × 0.2-2.2 cm, sparsely puberulous, especially so along margin and along veins abaxially, margin crenate or serrate; lower leaves ovate or orbicular-ovate, base rounded, petioles equaling or exceeding blades; middle leaves oblong-ovate or oblong-elliptic, base cuneate, decurrent into a short petiole; upper leaves oblong-lanceolate, with indistinct petioles. Flowers few to numerous; pedicels 2.5-11 cm, glabrous, 2-bracteolate; bracteoles lanceolate. Sepals oblong-lanceolate, 4-15 mm, apex acute; basal auricles 1-4 mm, irregularly toothed. Corolla funnelform; petals yellow or ivory, obviously shorter than or nearly equaling sepals, 6-14 mm, upper ones pale, anterior one including spur 5.5-14 mm; spur 1-4 mm, not exceeding appendages, straight. Capsule 6-10 mm. Seeds oblong-ovoid, 1.5-1.8 mm. Fl. Apr-Sep, fr. Jun-Sep. 2n = 34.

Weeds in exposed places, abandoned fields, or cultivated. Taiwan [native to N Africa, SW Asia, and Europe].