Swertia handeliana H. Smith

Perennials 2-4 cm tall. Rhizomes blackish, short, with few slightly fleshy rootlets. Stems 2-5, erect, cespitose, striate, simple. Leaves mostly basal, crowded in a rosette, slightly shorter than stems; petiole flattened, 0.8-1.8 cm; leaf blade ovate to suborbicular, 4-7 × 3-5.5 mm, base narrowed, apex rounded, midvein distinct. Stem leaves sessile, spatulate to obovate, 4-6 × 2.5-4 mm, both ends obtuse. Flowers terminal, solitary, 4merous. Pedicel erect, 5-13 mm at anthesis, elongated to 2 cm in fruit. Calyx lobes green, foliose, ovate-lanceolate to ovate-elliptic, 3.5-4.5 mm, margin scabrous, apex obtuse, veins 3-5. Corolla pale blue, 8-10 mm in diam., tube ca. 0.5 mm; lobes oblong, 8-10 mm, apex obtuse and mucronate. Nectaries 1 per corolla lobe, reduced to a flat gland patch without raised margin or fimbriae. Filaments ca. 5.5 mm; anthers ovoid, 0.9-1 mm. Style short; stigma lobes capitate. Capsules ovoid-ellipsoid, ca. 1 cm. Seeds light brown, broadly ellipsoid, 0.7-0.8 mm, almost smooth. Fl. and fr. Aug-Nov.

SE Xizang, NW Yunnan.

* Grasslands on hillsides, alpine meadows; 3500-4500 m.