Swollen-Stamen Green Swertia is an erect dwarf shrub usually up to
80 cm high, deceptively similar to
Panicled Swertia.
Flowers are 5-merous, 1.2-1.8 cm long including
flower-stalks. Flower-stalks are velvet-hairy, 4-10 mm long. Flowers
are 1.2-1.9 cm across, pale yellow-green to light green with dark
purple band encircling 2 green dots and one horseshoe-shaped nectar
gland per petal. Petals are 6-9 x 3-4.5 mm. Nectary gland are about 1
mm long. Sepal-cup is about 1.2 cm long, sepals 5, basally fused,
unequal, ovate-triangular, 6 (shorter) - 13 (longer) x 1.5-4 mm,
tapering at tip, hairless. Stamens are 5-6 mm long; filaments 4-5 mm
long, dilated near middle toward base, light green to sometimes purple
at middle. Pistil is 5-9 mm long. Stems are 2-3.5 mm in diameter, round
with ridges, branched, hairless. Leaves are usually oblong-lanceshaped
to sometimes linear-lanceshaped, 2.2-5.2 x 0.4-1.2 cm, strongly
tapering at tip. Swollen-Stamen Green Swertia is found in SW. Tibet, Nepal to E.
Himalaya, at altitudes of 2200-3200 m. Flowering: September-October.
Identification credit: Amber Srivastava
Photographed in Yumthang valley, Sikkim.
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The flower labeled Swollen-Stamen Green Swertia is ...