Silene yetii Bocquet var. herbilegorum Bocquet, Candollea 22: 5. 1967.

Herbs perennial, densely glandular hairy throughout, with sterile basal rosettes and a few flowering stems. Stems sparsely caespitose, rarely solitary, erect, robust, 30--60 cm tall, simple, with very long internodes above. Rosette leaves obovate, 2--4 × 0.5--1.5 cm, both surfaces glandular hairy, base attenuate into distinct petiole; cauline leaves oblanceolate to lanceolate, 3--7 × 0.5--1 cm, becoming smaller upward, base half clasping. Inflorescence 5--10-flowered, racemiform with unequal branches that become very strict and erect and elongated in fruit; cymules 1--3-flowered; flowers nutant at first, becoming erect in late anthesis. Pedicel 4--10 mm, elongating in fruit to 1--3 cm; bracteoles linear-lanceolate, herbaceous, 5--7 mm. Calyx narrowly campanulate, 9--11 × 5--7 mm, densely glandular hairy, longitudinal veins dark brown or brown, glandular hairy. Androgynophore ca. 1 mm, pubescent. Petal claws slightly exserted, cuneate, auricles prominent; limbs ?dark red, 2--3 mm, shallowly 4-fid. Stamens included; filaments hairy at base. Styles included. Capsule ovoid, ca. 9 × 5 mm, equaling calyx. Seeds gray, ca. 1 mm, tuberculate.

This species is close to Silene yetii, but the inflorescence has 5–10 flowers (vs. 1–5 in S. yetii ), the calyx is markedly smaller (9–10 mm, vs. 12–13 mm in S. yetii ), and the petal limb is clearly 4-fid (vs. 2-fid in S. yetii ).

* Alpine grasslands; 2700--4100 m. Sichuan, NW Yunnan.