Linum pallescens Bunge

Perennials 10-30 cm tall. Taproot sturdy. Stems several, erect or basally decumbent, simple or apically branched, base woody and with scalelike leaves, nonflowering shoots usually present and with dense narrow leaves. Cauline leaves alternate, linear, 0.7-1.5 cm × 0.5-1.5 mm, 1- or 3-veined from base, base attenuate, margin revolute, apex acute. Flowers solitary or in cymes, ca. 7 mm in diam. Sepals ovate, ca. 3.5 × 2 mm, apex obtuse and with a mucro; outer 3 sepals 1- or 3(or 5)-veined. Petals white to blue, obovate, ca. 2 × as long as sepals, base cuneate, apex rounded and retuse. Stamens ± as long as styles. Capsule subglobose, ca. 4 mm in diam., septicidal. Seeds brown, elliptic, flattened, ca. 4 × 2 mm. Fl. Jun-Aug, fr. Jul-Sep.

Gansu, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Xinjiang, Xizang [Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russia, Tajikistan].

Dry mountain slopes, sandy and gravelly floodplains, wastelands; 500-1200 m.