Swertia splendens H. Smith

Perennials ca. 40 cm tall. Taproot 7-10 mm in diam. Stems single, erect, robust, angular, sparsely puberulent along striae. Basal leaves petioles flattened, 8-12 cm, base connate; leaf blade spatulate to obovate, 8-12 × 4.5-5.5 cm, base narrowed, margin irregularly laciniate, apex obtuse to rounded, veins 7. Stem leaves in whorls of 3-6, sessile, bractlike, oblong to ovate, 2-4 × 1-1.5 cm, both ends obtuse, veins 3-5. Inflorescences a conical thyrse or verticillasterlike, many flowered, 3whorled. Flowers 4merous. Pedicel spreading, 1-2 cm, somewhat 4angled. Calyx lobes broadly ovate to triangular-cordate, 1.3-1.6 cm × 8-10 mm, margin irregularly laciniate, apex acute, veins 1-3. Corolla brick red drying yellow-green, campanulate, tube 2-3 mm; lobes broadly obovate, 2.3-2.5 × ca. 2 cm, margin lacerate, apex rounded. Nectaries 1 per corolla lobe, orbicular, with ca. 1 mm inflexed fimbriae. Filaments 0.9-1.1 cm; anthers ellipsoid, 2.5-3.5 mm. Ovary ovoid-ellipsoid, 1-1.2 cm. Style indistinct; stigma lobes suborbicular. Fl. Jul.

Xizang (Moindawang).

* Gravel slopes; ca. 4000 m.