粗茎秦艽 Gentiana crassicaulis

  • Scientific Name: Gentiana crassicaulis Duthie ex Burkill
  • Ref: J. Proc. Asiat. Soc. Bengal 2:311. 1906
  • English Common Name: thick-stemmed gentian
  • Chinese Common Name: 粗茎秦艽 cūjìng qínjiāo 粗茎龙胆 cūjìng lóngdǎn
  • Family: Gentianaceae
  • Genus: Gentiana
  • Distribution: Wastelands, grasslands, roadside slopes, alpine meadows, scrub, forest margins, forests; 2100-4500 m. NW Guizhou, W Sichuan, SE Xizang, NW Yunnan
  • Photo: G318, Xizang
Perennials 25-40 cm tall. Roots to 30 × 2 cm. Stems ascending, stout, simple, glabrous. Basal leaves petiole 5-8 cm, membranous; leaf blade narrowly elliptic to ovate-elliptic, 12-20 × 4-6.5 cm, base narrowed, margin scabrous, apex acute, veins 5-7. Stem leaves 3-5 pairs, distinctly larger toward apex, sessile, spreading, and surrounding flower cluster; petiole to 3 cm, membranous, completely connate; leaf blade ovate-elliptic to ovate-triangular, 6-16 × 3-4.5(-7) cm, base obtuse to truncate, margin scabrous, apex acute to obtuse, veins 3-5. Inflorescences crowded, many-flowered terminal clusters, rarely also few-flowered axillary whorls. Flowers sessile. Calyx tube spathelike, 4-6 mm, membranous, split on 1 side, apex truncate; lobes 1-5, dentiform, 0.5-1 mm. Corolla blue-purple, base pale yellow base or sometimes white or dark green, urceolate, 2-2.2 cm; lobes ovate-triangular, 2.5-3.5 mm, margin entire, apex acute; plicae triangular, 1-1.5 mm, oblique, margin denticulate, apex acute. Stamens inserted at middle of corolla tube; filaments 6-8 mm; anthers narrowly ellipsoid, 1.5-2.5 mm. Style 2-2.5 mm; stigma lobes oblong. Capsules sessile, ovoid-ellipsoid, 1.8-2 cm. Seeds light brown, ellipsoid, 1.2-1.5 mm. Fl. and fr. Jun-Nov. (Flora of China)

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