Gentiana handeliana H. Smith

Perennials 10-15 cm tall. Rhizomes short. Stems purple, 2 or 3, erect, simple, papillate, densely toward apex. Basal leaves in 2-5 erect rosettes; petiole 2-5 cm, membranous; leaf blade oblong, narrowly elliptic, or oblanceolate, 2-7 × 0.5-2.3 cm, base narrowed, apex obtuse to rounded, veins 3-5. Stem leaves 2 or 3 pairs; petiole to 1 cm, absent apically; leaf blade narrowly elliptic, lanceolate, or oblanceolate, 1.5-2.5 cm × 2-5 mm, base narrowed, apex obtuse, veins 1-3. Inflorescences terminal clusters, sometimes also in axillary whorls. Flowers sessile. Calyx narrowly obconic, 0.9-1.1 cm; tube sometimes split on 1 side, outside papillate; lobes spreading to reflexed, subulate to triangular, 1-2(-3) mm, unequal, ciliolate, apex obtuse. Corolla pale yellow to yellow, rarely white, with distinct dark blue spots, tubular-funnelform, 2.5-3 cm; lobes ovate, 3-4 mm, apex obtuse to rounded; plicae triangular to obliquely truncate, 1-1.5 mm, margin entire. Stamens inserted at basal part of corolla tube; filaments 0.8-1.2 cm; anthers narrowly ellipsoid, 2.5-3.5 mm. Style linear, 3.5-4 mm; stigma lobes semiorbicular. Capsules ovoid-ellipsoid, 0.8-1.2 cm; gynophore to 1.8 cm. Seeds light brown, broadly ellipsoid to subglobose, 1.5-1.7 mm. Fl. and fr. Jul-Nov.

SE Xizang, NW Yunnan [NE Myanmar].

Alpine meadows; 3500-4600 m.

Gentiana handeliana var. brevisepala C. Marquand; G. stictantha C. Marquand.