Swertia endotricha H. Smith

Perennials 15-20 cm tall. Rhizomes blackish, short, with few slightly fleshy rootlets. Stems erect, striate, simple, base sheathed by blackish remains of old petioles. Basal leaves petioles flattened, 3-5 cm, base connate; leaf blade oblong to elliptic, 3-5 × 1.7-2 cm, base narrowed, apex obtuse, veins 3-5. Stem leaves 3 or 4 pairs, sessile, narrowly ovate, 1-2.5 × 0.7-1.2 cm, base obtuse, apex acuminate to obtuse, veins 1-3. Inflorescences racemelike, 6-11-flowered. Flowers 5merous. Pedicel erect, to 2.5 cm. Calyx lobes narrowly lanceolate, 1-1.2 cm, apex acuminate, veins 3. Corolla blackish purple, 2.5-3 cm in diam., tube 1.5-2 mm; lobes lanceolate, 1.2-1.4 cm, apex acuminate, veins 3. Nectaries 2 per corolla lobe, widely spaced, cupular, pilose, base with erect fimbriae to 5 mm. Filaments ca. 7.5 mm; anthers ellipsoid, ca. 3 mm. Style indistinct; stigma lobes suborbicular. Fl. Aug.

* Hillsides. Yunnan (Jinsha Jiang valley).