Gentiana arenaria Maximowicz, Diagn. Pl. Nov. Asiat. 8: 30. 1892.

Annuals 2-4 cm tall; whole plant dark purple. Stems prostrate to ascending, striate, much branched from base. Leaves short petiolate; leaf blade spatulate to oblong-spatulate, 5-8 × 1-1.3 mm including petiole, base narrowed, apex rounded, veins indistinct. Flowers terminal, solitary, 4merous. Calyx 3-4.5 mm; lobes recurved, spatulate, base narrowed, apex subrounded, veins indistinct. Corolla purple, tubular, 5-5.5 × 3-4.5 mm; lobes oblong, 1.6-1.8 mm, apex subrounded. Nectaries 8. Stamens inserted at apical to middle part of corolla tube; filaments white, ca. 2 mm; anthers yellow, ovoid to ellipsoid, 0.2-0.3 mm. Style linear; stigma lobes linear. Capsules ovoid-ellipsoid, 6.5-7 mm. Seeds dark brown, subglobose, to 1 mm; seed coat reticulate. Fl. and fr. Jul-Sep.

* Sandy places on river banks, alpine rocky places; 3400-5400 m. Gansu, Qinghai, N Xizang.