Acantholimon diapensioides Boissier var. longifolia O. Fedtschenko.

Shrublets, densely pulvinate. Cushions 20--70 cm wide. Branchlets very slow growing; current year's branches very short and inconspicuous, with only a few densely appressed leaves. Leaf blade pale glaucous, lanceolate to linear, 4--8 X 0.6--0.8 mm, very shallowly obdeltate to subcomplanate in cross section, glabrous, apex acute to acuminate and shortly awned. Inflorescences without a rachis; spikelets (1 or)2 or 3, clustered in leaf axils at base of current year's branches, 1- or 2-flowered; bracts broadly ovate, ca. 3 mm, densely pubescent or glabrous, apex acuminate and usually mucronate; first bractlet ca. 6 mm, densely pubescent, apex acuminate. Calyx ca. 7--8.5 mm, tube densely velvety; limb white with dark purple veins, veins extending to apices or slightly projecting. Corolla pink. Fl. Jun-Aug, fr. Jul-Sep.

High grasslands; 3000--4700 m. SW Xinjiang [Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan].