Polygala crotalarioides Buch.-Ham. ex DC.

Restricted to Kashmir 13-2100 m. alt. s.m.

Perennial, villous all over with long erect and short curved hairs, c. 20 cm tall. Leaves obovate-elliptic, obtuse, 10-43 mm long, 2-18 mm broad. Racemes lateral, rarely terminal, shorter than leaves, dense, 13-18 mm long. Bracts persistent, ± equalling the pedicel. Sepals persistent; outer sepals very unequal, upper twice as large as the lower ones; inner sepals obovate-elliptic, 7 mm long, 3.5-4 mm broad, many nerved, veinlets ananstomosing. Lateral petals shorter than keel; keel 4-5 mm, crest 2-3 mm. Capsule orbicular, emarginate, 4 mm long, 4-4.25 mm broad, glabrous, wing 0.5 mm, ciliate. Seeds oblong, pilose; strophiole 3-lobed, 3-appendiculate, appendages 1/3 as long as the seed.

Herbs perennial, 6-20 cm tall, erect or diffuse, shortly curved pubescent with, at least, some hirsute-cottony hairs. Primary root deep brown, stout. Stems woody at base, multibranched, usually erect. Leaves alternate; petiole ca. 2 mm; leaf blade green, elliptic or obovate-elliptic, 1.5-4(-7.5) × 0.7-2.5(-4) cm, papery, midvein raised abaxially, slightly impressed adaxially, lateral veins 3-5 pairs, anastomosing near margin, reticulate veins obscure, base obtuse or subrounded, margin entire, ciliate, apex obtuse or retuse. Racemes axillary or opposite to leaves, 1.2-2 cm, 8-15-flowered. Pedicel ca. 2 mm; basal bracts 3, persistent, ovate, ca. 2 mm, apex long acuminate, ciliate. Flowers 6-9 mm. Sepals 5, persistent, ciliate; outer sepals 3, unequal, upper one broadly elliptic or suborbicular, ca. 3 × 2.5 mm, apex rounded, both lateral ones elliptic-ovate, smaller; inner sepals 2, petaloid, obliquely ovate, 6-7 × ca. 4 mm, base unguiculate, apex obtuse, thinly mucronate. Petals 3, free, purple-red or white and purple striate; lateral petals 4-5 mm, inside pilose at base, inside fasciculate white villous at middle, apex rounded, retuse, ciliate; keel longer than lateral petals, 5-7 mm, ciliate, apex with fimbriate appendages. Stamens 8; filaments 5-6 mm, forming an open staminal ciliate sheath, adnate with petals, ciliate; anthers yellow, ovoid. Ovary subglobose, ca. 2 mm in diam., winged, ciliate, especially densely so apically; style curved; stigmas 2. Capsule orbicular, ca. 3.5 mm in diam., narrowly winged, ciliate, apex retuse. Seeds 2, black, oblong, ca. 2.5 mm, ca. 1.5 mm in diam., densely white villous; strophiole cucullate, slightly 3-lobed. Fl. and fr. Jul-Sep.

Himalaya (Kashmir to Sikkim), India, Burma, Thailand, Indo-China, China.

Distribution: Kashmir to Sikkim and Burma.

SW Sichuan, S Xizang, N Yunnan [India, Kashmir, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand].

2100-3000 m

Fl. Per. June- July.

Shrub forests on slopes of hills, grasslands; 1100-2300 m.