Veratrilla burkilliana (W. W. Smith) Harry Smith

Plants 15-30(-50) cm tall. Roots 10-12 × 2-3 cm. Basal leaf petiole 10-15 cm; leaf blade 7-10 × 2-2.5 cm. Stem leaves 3-6 pairs, elliptic to ovate-elliptic, 4-5(-9) × to 3 cm. Inflorescences of male plants very crowded, 3-8 × 3-4 cm. Calyx lobes triangular-lanceolate, 1.5-2 mm, apex obtuse, veins 1-3. Corolla dirty white to green, with purple streaks and spots, tube 1-1.5 mm; lobes oblanceolate, 5-7 mm, each with 1 blue gland patch, apex obtuse. Stamens fertile; filaments 1.5-2 mm; anthers ellipsoid, 0.8-1 mm. Pistil abortive. Inflorescences of female plants lax, narrow, few flowered, 8-10 × ca. 2.5 cm in fruit. Calyx and corolla as in male inflorescence. Stamens sterile. Stigma lobes suborbicular. Capsules ovoid, 1-1.5 cm. Seeds dark brown, discoid, ca. 5 × 3-4 mm; seed coat with honeycomblike pits. Fl. and fr. Jul-Aug.

S Xizang [Bhutan, Sikkim].

Wet places; 4000-4300 m.

Swertia burkilliana W. W. Smith, J. Proc. Asiat. Soc. Bengal 7: 78. 1911.