Neopicrorhiza minima - Small Bitter-Root

Small Bitter-Root is a small, perennial, rhizome-bearing herb, 4-7 cm tall, including the inflorescence. It is closely related to Figwort Bitter-Root. Flowers are 2-lipped, 7.5-10 mm long, tubular, bluish-purple, glandular velvet-hairy outside, hairless inside; tube 3.5-5 mm long; upper lip oblong, galeate, 4-5 mm long, tip deeply notched; lower lip 3-lobed; lobes equal or subequal, oblong, 3-4 mm long, tip blunt-rounded. Stamens are 4, not protruding out, 5-7 mm long. Style is 7-10.5 mm long, hairless, bluish-purple, projecting 1-1.5 mm beyond upper lip of flower; stigma head-like. Flowers are borne in 4-9-flowered, head-like raceme, 1-1.5 cm long. Bracts are leaf-like, elliptic-lanceshaped, 2.5-3.5 mm long. Flower-stalks are 0.7-1.5 mm long, velvet-hairy. Sepals are 5, glandular-hairy outside, purple or purplish-green, unequal, inverted-lanceshaped-spoon-shaped, 3-4 x 1.3-2 mm, margins fringed with hairs, entire. Leaves are basal, 3-8, in rosette; blade spoon-shaped or obovate-nearly round, 5-15 x 3-10 mm, tip round, hairless on both surface, margins rounded toothed, with 7-10 teeth; leaf-stalks 3-15 mm long. Flowering stem is 1.5-5.5 cm long, densely velvet-hairy, elongated to 2-7 cm in fruit. Capsules are ovoid, 5-6 mm long, tip tapering, hairless, black when ripe. Small Bitter-Root is found in Eastern Himalaya, Bhutan and Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh. Flowering: June-October.