Lychnis tristis Bunge in Ledebour, Fl. Altaic. 2: 184. 1830, not Silene tristis Salisbury (1796, nom. illeg., included S. undulata Aiton); Melandrium triste Fenzl ex Ledebour.

Herbs perennial, (15--)25--40(--50) cm tall. Roots vertical, gray-brown, robust, lignified; root crowns multibranched, slightly lignified, with procumbent stems. Stems sparsely caespitose, erect, pale yellowish green, ± black at apex, simple, basally glabrous, apically hirtellous with intermixed black glandular hairs. Basal leaves oblanceolate or linear-oblanceolate, 4--10 cm × 6--10 mm, base attenuate into petiole, apex obtuse or acute; cauline leaves 1--4 pairs, narrowly elliptic, smaller than basal leaves, nearly sessile, slightly sheathed, both surfaces glabrous, ciliate, hairy at veins abaxially, midvein prominent; distal leaves narrowly lanceolate, sometimes withered, coarsely glandular hairy. Flowers solitary, sometimes 2 or 3, nutant, erect in late anthesis. Pedicel subequaling calyx, elongating in late anthesis, viscid, villous. Calyx globose-campanulate, saccate, 1.8--2.2 × 1.2--1.5 cm, membranous, sparsely robust glandular hairy, contracted at apex, opened in late anthesis; veins dark violet, with brown-violet glandular hairs, coherent at calyx teeth; calyx teeth triangular, margin ciliate, apex acute. Androgynophore 2--3 mm, villous. Petals exserted 1--3 mm beyond calyx, dark violet; claws 1.4--1.6 cm, cuneate, with narrow auricles, limbs emarginate or shallowly bifid; lobes entire or shallowly toothed, rarely 1-toothed obscurely at base of two sides; coronal scales small, cuneate, with minute teeth at apex. Stamens included. Styles 5. Capsule orbicular, 1.2--1.5 × 1--1.4 cm, 5-toothed. Seeds dark brown, reniform, ca. 1.4 mm, thick, flat, with prominent papillae abaxially. Fl. Jun--Jul.

Alpine grasslands, shifting screes; 4000--5300 m. Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russia].