Swertia ciliata (G. Don) B. L. Burtt

Annuals 30-50 cm tall. Roots yellow, fibrous. Stems erect, subquadrangular, branched. Leaves sessile or short petiolate; leaf blade lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 0.8-4.5 × 0.3-2 cm, thin herbaceous, base obtuse, margin slightly revolute, apex acute, veins 3-5. Inflorescences panicles of cymes, many flowered, spreading. Flowers 5merous. Pedicel erect, to 2.5 cm, filiform. Calyx tube 1-1.5 mm; lobes reflexed at anthesis, lanceolate, 5-7 × 1.5-2 mm, slightly unequal, margin and midvein dark purple, apex acuminate. Corolla dirty purple, with 2 purple spots above each nectary, 1-1.2 cm in diam., tube 1-1.5 mm; lobes spreading at anthesis, ovate-lanceolate, 6-7 mm, apex acuminate. Nectaries 1 per corolla lobe, horseshoe-shaped, naked. Filaments dark purple, 4-5 mm, basally much enlarged and connate; anthers blue-purple, ellipsoid, 1-1.5 mm. Style 3-4 mm, slender; stigma lobes capitate. Capsules ovoid, 7-10 mm. Seeds pale yellow, subglobose, 0.3-0.5 mm in diam.; seed coat smooth to warty. Fl. and fr. Jul-Sep. 2n = 20.

Afghanistan, Himalaya (Kashmir to Sikkim).

SW Xizang [Afghanistan, India, Kashmir, Nepal, Sikkim].

2800-4000 m

Beside streams, hillsides; 3600-3700 m.

Ophelia ciliata D. Don ex G. Don, Gen. Hist. 4: 178. 1837; O. purpurascens Wallich ex D. Don.