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East-Himalayan Swertia
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East-Himalayan Swertia
P Native Photo: Amber Srivastava
Common name: East-Himalayan Swertia, Indian Gentian
Botanical name: Swertia hookeri    Family: Gentianaceae (Gentian family)

East-Himalayan Swertia is a very robust erect plant, with maroon and darker-veined, bell-shaped flowers with rising up ovate petals, borne in dense short-stalked whorls and forming a branch-end, interrupted, spike-like cluster. Petals are about 1.8 cm, blunt, with 1 large basal nectary without a fringe; sepals ovate pointed, green, more than half as long as the petals. Basal leaves are spoon-shaped-elliptic 15-20 cm, stem leaves ovate, the uppermost purple- flushed and little longer than the whorls of flowers. Stem is stout, hollow, up to 1 m or more; rootstock stout. Capsules are shining brown, up to 2 cm. East-Himalayan Swertia is found on open slopes in East Himalaya, from E Nepal, NE India to SE Tibet, at altitudes of 3600-4300 m. Flowering: June-September.

Identification credit: Amber Srivastava Photographed in Yumthang valley, Sikkim.

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