River Beauty is a clumped perennial, forming large colonies by sprouting
from woody rootstock. Stems are simple or moderately branched, becoming
hairless to dense bristly, 4-70 cm tall,
with a long nearly leafless branch-end spike-like cluster of prominent
pink flowers, and numerous spirally-arranged narrow-elliptic leaves on
the stem below. Flowers are up to 5 cm across, with rounded short-stalked
petals; styles short, 4-8 mm, and deflexed throughout flowering.
River Beauty is found on river gravels, margins of streams and damp slopes,
in the Himalayas, from Afghanistan to C. Nepal, N. Asia,
N. America, at altitudes of 3300-4500 m. Flowering: July-August.
Medicinal uses: The entire plant is used in Tibetan medicine, it is
said to have a bitter taste and a cooling potency. Analgesic, antidote,
anti-inflammatory, antipruritic, antirheumatic and febrifuge, it is used in
the treatment of fevers and inflammations, plus also itching pimples.
Identification credit: Tabish
Photographed in Valley of Flowers, Uttarakhand.
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The flower labeled River Beauty is ...