高堇菜 gao jin cai

Viola elatior Fries; V. montana var. elatior (Fries) Regel.

Herbs perennial. Stem erect, to 50 cm tall, robust, puberulous. Stipules leaflike, lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, large, lower and middle ones subequaling or shorter than petioles, upper ones exceeding petioles, 2-5.5 cm, base often 2- or 3-lobed, margin usually entire in upper half, irregularly dentate in lower half, apex acute; petiole 1.5-4 cm, narrowly winged in upper half; leaf blade lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, 2-7 × 1.5-2.5 cm, both surfaces minutely puberulous, with dense brown glandular dots, base truncate or shallowly cordate, slightly decurrent to petiole, margin obtusely dentate or ciliate, apex acute. Flowers purplish violet, whitish at throat, large; pedicels exceeding or subequaling leaves, with 2 linear bracteoles above middle. Sepals lanceolate, 1-1.4 cm, apex acuminate, basal auricles short, apex shallowly dentate. Petals obovate, lateral ones ca. 1.8 cm, distinctly bearded, anterior one shorter, apex emarginate, ca. 2 cm (spur included); spur greenish, longer than basal auricles of sepals; spur of 2 anterior stamens 3-4 mm, base thicker, apex thinner. Styles slightly geniculate at base, thickened upward and clavate, densely papillose in upper part, curved forward and uncinately beaked at apex, tip of beak slightly thickened along margin, with a larger stigma hole at middle of beak. Capsule glabrous, conspicuously angled, apex mucronate, oblong. Fl. May, fr. Jun-Aug. 2n = 40.

Forest margins, forests, grasslands on mountain slopes; 1100-1200 m. Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan; Europe].