• Scientific Name: Gentiana zollingeri Fawc.
• Ref: J. Bot. 21:183. 1883
• English Common Name: brush gentian, Zollinger’s gentian
• Chinese Common Name: 笔龙胆 bǐlóngdǎn
• Japanese Common Name: フデリンドウ [筆竜胆] fuderindō
• Family: Gentianaceae
• Genus: Gentiana
• Distribution: Meadows, scrub, forests; 500-1600 m. Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea, E Russia].
• Photo: 04/11/2015, Mt.Tianmu, Zhejiang

Annuals 3-6 cm tall. Stems purple, erect, branched from base or rarely simple, glabrous. Leaves usually widely spaced; petiole tube 1-2 mm; leaf blade broadly ovate to suborbicular, 1-1.3 cm × 3-8 mm, margin cartilaginous, smooth or ciliolate, apex rounded and mucronate, veins 1-3. Leaves sometimes narrowed toward stem apex; leaf blade lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, 7-9 × 1.5-2 mm, margin narrowly membranous and ciliolate, apex acuminate and apiculate, midvein distinct. Flowers (1 or) few to many. Pedicel purple, 1-1.5 mm, glabrous. Calyx narrowly obconic, 7-9 mm; lobes narrowly triangular to ovate-elliptic, 3.5-4.5 mm, equal, as long as tube, margin narrowly membranous and smooth, apex acute, midvein prominent. Corolla pale blue, with pale yellow base, funnelform, 1.4-1.7 cm; lobes ovate, 2.5-3 mm, margin entire, apex obtuse; plicae broadly oblong to ovate, 1-1.5 mm, margin slightly 2cleft to denticulate, apex obtuse. Stamens inserted at middle of corolla tube, equal; filaments 4-5 mm; anthers ellipsoid, 1.5-2 mm. Style 1.5-2 mm; stigma lobes oblong. Capsules narrowly obovoid, 6-7 mm; gynophore to 1 cm, stout. Seeds brown, ellipsoid, 0.3-0.5 mm. Fl. and fr. Apr-Jun. (Flora of China)

05/25/2013, Qingliang Peak, Mt. Tianmu, Zhejiang