| Urn-shaped Gentian |
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Botanical name: Gentiana urnula Family: Gentianaceae (gentian family)
Urn-shaped gentian is a perennial herb 4-6 cm tall. Flowers are solitary or 2-3 and crowded. Sepal-cup is obconic; tube 5-6 mm, membranous; sepals 3-4 mm, similar to leaves. Flowers are pale blue-purple, sometimes with pale yellow base, with blue streaks, urn-shaped, 2-3 cm. Petals are broadly ovate, 2-3 mm, margin entire, tip rounded and cuspidate. Stems are erect, simple. Basal leaves withered, persistent. Stem leaves overlapping, crowded; leaf-stalk 3-6 mm, membranous; leaf blade flat-fan-shaped, 0.7-1.7 cm x 5-10 mm, margin cartilaginous and smooth, tip flat and notched, midvein cartilaginous and crested. Urn-shaped gentian is found on gravel slopes, alpine meadows, gravel zone on high mountains, at altitudes of 3900-5700 m, Nepal, East Himalaya, Tibet, Qinghai. Flowering: August-October.
| Identification credit: Tabish | Photographed in North Sikkim. |
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