Swertia gyacaensis T. N. Ho & S. W. Liu

Perennials 5-15 cm tall. Rhizomes blackish, short, with few slightly fleshy rootlets. Stems erect, striate, simple, base sheathed by blackish remains of old petioles. Basal and lower stem leaves with petiole flattened, 1-1.7 cm, base connate; leaf blade linear-elliptic to lanceolate, 2-4 cm × 5-11 mm, base narrowed, apex obtuse, midvein distinct. Middle to upper stem leaves sessile, 1.2-3.5 cm × 3-8 mm, base obtuse and subamplexicaul, apex obtuse, midvein distinct. Inflorescences racemelike, 3-7 cm, (1-)3-7-flowered. Flowers 5 merous. Pedicel spreading to erect, blue-purple to purple, 1-2.2 cm. Calyx lobes linear to linear-lanceolate, 7-9 mm, margin pale blue, narrow, and membranous, apex acuminate; veins 3, indistinct. Corolla blue-purple, 1.5-2 cm in diam., tube 1.5-2 mm; lobes oblong, 0.9-1.3 cm, margin smooth or erose, apex acuminate. Nectaries 2 per corolla lobe, widely spaced to crowded, cupular, with pilose fimbriae 2.5-3 mm. Filaments 7-8 mm, base few barbate; anthers blue, narrowly ellipsoid, 2-2.5 mm. Ovary ovoid-ellipsoid, 6-7 mm. Style indistinct; stigma lobes suborbicular. Fl. Aug-Sep.

Xizang (Gyaca Xian).

* Alpine meadows; ca. 4300 m.