Comastoma urnigera - Urn-bearing Gentian

Urn-bearing Gentian is an annual herb, 5.5-7 cm tall, branched from the base. Flowers are urn-shaped, dark blue to violet, tube 4-6 mm long; petals 4 or 5, blue, with a fringed throat. A dense ring of long bluish fringed hairs at the base of the flower lobes completely closes the throat opening. Stamens str 4 or 5, inserted above the middle of the flower tube. Ovary oblong-ovoid, hairless; stigma bilobed. Sepal-cup is bell-shaped, divided into 4 or 5 unequal ovate to lanceshaped sepals. Flowers are borne singly, at branch-ends or in leaf axils on long violet flower-cluster-stalks 0.8-2.2 cm long. Stems are pale green to yellowish, prostrate, angular, faintly ribbed, and hairless. Leaves are opposite, simple, spoon-shaped to obovate, 7-15 x 3-5 mm, entire, blunt to rounded at the tip, hairless on both surfaces; basal leaves larger than stem leaves. Leaf-stalks are broad, faintly fused at swollen nodes; venation obscure except for a faint midrib. Capsules are oblong-ellipsoid, grooved, splitting at the tip; seeds numerous, pale yellow, pear-shaped, and tuberculate. Urn-bearing Gentian is found from Himalayas to SW China, at altitudes of 4370-5070 m. Flowering: September-October.