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42 BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS OF KASHMIR [Plate 41
Gentiana pseudo-humilis,
Burkill.
(Pseudo-humilis means resembling the species O. humilis.)
A dwarf plant, tufted, stems almost decumbent, up to 3% in.
long, quite hairless. Eadical leaves egg-shaped-round, up to
i in. long, margin cartilaginous, stem-leaves inversely eggshaped,
bent back, ~l-% in. long, i in. broad, united and
sheathing at the base. Flowers solitary, stalked or almost
stalkless, blue. Calyx-tube 10-ribbed, J in. long, TV in. diameter,
teeth lance-shaped, yV in. long, with a white margin. Corollatube
i in. long, folds between the lobes large, lobes egg-shaped,
rVJ- in. long. Stamens reaching the throat, filaments fixed
above the middle of the tube. Ovary stalked, in. long, stalk
scarcely iV in. long. Capsule long-stalked, much protruding,
k in. long.
Locality. Eupshu, 15,000-18,000 ft. ; Kargil ;
Leh
; between
Leh and Lipshi, 12,000-14,000 ft. ;
near Karsar.
Distribution. Alpine W. Himalaya, from Kashmir to
Garhwal ; Afghanistan, Siberia.
Gentiana pygmaea, C. B. Clarke. Pygmy
Gentian.
Stem J-l in. high, simple, 1-flowered. Leaves J-i in. long,
egg- or inversely egg-shaped, sometimes long-pointed, distant.
Calyx shorter than the corolla-tube, lobes lance-shaped, sharppointed,
erect. Corolla blue, 1-i in. long, tube-shaped, folds
between the lobes bifid, throat without scales.
I have seen no specimens. It may be a form of Gentiana
aquatica.
Locality. Palga.m, 13,500 ft,
Distribution. So far not been found anywhere else.
Gentiana squarrosa,
Ledeb.
(Squarrosa means spreading widely.)
Branches arising from the base, many, weak, little divided.
Stem-leaves small, inversely egg-shaped, bent back. Calyxteeth
egg-shaped, with a short hard point at the tip, bent
back. Corolla less than i in. long, blue. Capsule shortinversely
egg-shaped, compressed.
This species is perhaps not distinct from G. aquatica..
The
following are the only characters by which it can be distinguished
Calyx-teeth egg-shaped and bent back, instead of
:
being erect.
Locality. Karakoram, 10,000-15,000 ft.
Distribution. Kashmir, Sikkim, Dahuria, Siberia.