Diapensia himalaica Hook. fil. & Thomson

Shrublets, caespitose, ca. 5 cm tall. Leaves crowded on stem; petiole 1.5–2.5 mm, winged; leaf blade obovate, obovate-spatulate, lanceolate, or obovate-oblong, 2–5 × 1–2.5 mm, leathery, adaxially shiny and with stomates, base sheathing stem, margin entire and sometimes slightly revolute, apex obtuse to acute or sometimes mucronate-apiculate, acuminate, or retuse; midvein adaxially impressed; lateral veins inconspicuous. Flowers subsessile. Sepals 5, free, purplish red, ovate at flowering. Corolla pinkish red to rose-purple, occasionally white or yellow; tube campanulate, 4–8 mm, ca. 2 times longer than sepals; lobes suborbicular, broad-obovate, or oblong, ca. 6 × 4–5 mm. Stamens subsessile; staminodes minute and inconspicuous. Style 4–10 mm; stigma capitate to slightly 3-lobed. Capsule pinkish red, broadly ellipsoid, ca. 8 × 3–4 mm; elongated scape 5–7 cm; fruiting calyx becoming ovate-oblong, leaflike, 2.5–5 × 2–3 mm. Fl. May–Jun, fr. Aug.

E. Himalaya (E. Nepal to Bhutan), S. Tibet, N. Burma, W. China.

SE Xizang, NW Yunnan [Bhutan, N Myanmar, Sikkim].

3600-4000 m

Rocky hillsides, cliff ledges, damp rock faces; 3200–5000 m.