Jaeschkea canaliculata - Broad-Sepal Gentian

Broad-Sepal Gentian is a biennial, erect herb, up to 50 cm tall. Flowers are borne at branch-ends or in leaf-axils. Flowers are 4-5-merous, 5-14 mm long on 1-6 mm long flower-stalk, bell-shaped, leaf-axils flowers small. Flower-tube is 7.5-9 mm long, petals equal, 2-5 x 1-2.5 mm, ovate, pointed to nearly so, streaked. Stamens are 5, filaments inserted near the sinuses of flower lobes. Sepals are nearly equal in breadth, rarely unequal in length, 3-7 x 1-2.5 mm, ovate-obovate, tapering, entire, marginate, white rimmed, tube almost absent. Stem is simple, sometimes weakly branched from base or above, grooved, hairless, smooth and shining. Basal leaves are in a rosette, 1.0-4.0 x 0.4-1.0 cm, spoon-shaped, blunt, entire, falling off at flowering. Stem leaves are very few, 0.8-1.75 x 0.2-0.75 cm, narrowly ovate, entire, tapering. Uppermost leaves near flower are bract-like. Capsule is 8-12 x 2-4 mm, somewhat protruding, not many seeded. Broad-Sepal Gentian is found in the Himalayas, from Kashmir to Nepal, Sikkim, Tibet and Bhutan, at altitudes upto 4400 m. Flowering: July-September.