Pulsatilla ambigua (Turcz.) Juzepczuk

Rudolf V. Kamelin (pers. comm.) feels that the records for Pulsatilla ambigua in Xinjiang may be referable to P. bungeana C. A. Meyer.

Plant 20-30 cm. Taproot and verical rhizome stout. Leaves pinnately compound, 20-30 cm x 5-10 cm. Flowers blue-violet (rarely pink), nodding and flat spread at the beginning of flowering, erect and bell-like later. V - early spring to autumn. Fl - mid spring (in St. Petersburg May). Fr - June-July. P - by seed. Tolerates partial shade. Z 4. New.

Plants 16--22 cm tall. Rhizome 5--8 mm in diam. Leaves 6--8; petiole 3--10 cm; leaf blade ovate, 2--3.2 × 1.2--3.2 cm, 3-foliolate, abaxially sparsely pilose, adaxially glabrous, base cuneate; lateral leaflets petiolulate, divided into three segments, segments further lobed; central leaflet petiolulate, broadly ovate, 3-lobed, central segment stipitate and deeply 3-lobed; ultimate lobes lanceolate, 0.8--1.5 mm wide, apically 2- or 3-toothed. Scapes 1 or 2, erect, ca. 4 cm, elongated to 16 cm in fruit, pilose; involucral bracts 3, 1.5--2.8 cm, basally connate into a ca. 2 mm tube, apical palmate lobes lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, abaxially puberulent, margin entire or with 1 or 2 lobes. Sepals dark violet, erect, oblong-ovate, 2.2--2.8 × 0.8--1 cm, abaxially puberulent, apex slightly acute and with or without a barbate apical appendage. Stamens ca. 1/2 as long as sepals; anthers yellow. Infructescences 4--4.5 cm in diam. Achenes ca. 2.5 mm, puberulent. Persistent styles 2.5--3 cm. Fl. and fr. Apr--Jul.

Siberia (southwestern regions), Mongolia and China. Sandy places, rocky mountain slopes.

N Gansu, Heilongjiang, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, N Qinghai, Xinjiang [Mongolia, Russia (Siberia)].

Grassy slopes, margin of forests; 2000--3400 m.

Anemone ambigua Turczaninow ex Hayek, Festschr. Z. Feier. D. Siebzigst. Geburtst. Prof. Dr. Ascher 466. 1904.