Boschniakia handelii Beck; B. handelii f. minor Beck; B. kawakamii Hayata; Xylanche himalaica (J. D. Hooker & Thomson) Beck; X. kawakamii (Hayata) Beck.

Plants 15-45 cm tall. Rootstock globose or subglobose, 2-5 cm in diam. Stems usually 1, erect, unbranched. Leaves 1-2 cm X 6-12 mm. Inflorescences racemose, 8-20 cm; bract 1-1.5 cm X 5-8 mm; bractlets 2 or absent. Pedicel 6-10 mm, 0.8-1.7 cm in fruit. Calyx short cupular, 4-5 X 5-8 mm, apex 5-lobed; lobes unequal, linear-lanceolate or narrowly triangular, 2-5 mm, usually partly or all deciduous after anthesis and calyx margin entire. Corolla yellow-brown or pale purple, 1.5-2.5 cm; tube slightly enlarged; upper lip emarginate or entire, 7-9 mm; lower lip 2-3 mm, 3-lobed; lobes pubescent at margin. Filaments 1.2-1.4 cm, pubescent basally, glabrescent upward; anthers ovoid- oblong, usually glabrous. Ovary oblong; placentas (2 or)3. Style ca. 1 cm, glabrous; stigma usually 3-lobed. Capsule subglobose or ovoid-oblong, 1.5-2.2 X 1-1.5 cm, usually dehiscing by (2 or)3 valves. Seeds irregularly globose, 0.8-2.2 mm in diam. Fl. Apr-Jun, fr. Jun-Sep.

Parasitic on species of Rhododendron Linnaeus.

The whole plant is used medicinally for regulating vital energy, alleviating pain, relieving cough, and reducing sputum.

Slopes, forests, thickets; 2500-4400 m. Gansu, Hubei, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, N India, Nepal, Sikkim].