Swertia macrosperma (C. B. Cl.) C. B. Cl.

Annuals 30-100 cm tall. Roots yellow, ca. 5 mm in diam. Stems erect, subquadrangular, narrowly winged on angles, branched from middle. Basal and lower stem leaves withered at anthesis, petiolate; leaf blade spatulate, 2-6.5 × to 1.5 cm, base narrowed, margin entire or denticulate, apex obtuse, veins 1-3. Middle stem leaves sessile, lanceolate, oblong, ovate, or rarely obovate, 0.4-4.5 × 0.3-1.5(-2) cm, base obtuse, apex acute, veins 3-5. Inflorescences panicles of cymes, many flowered, spreading branched. Flowers 5 or rarely 4merous. Pedicel erect, 4-15 mm, slender. Calyx tube ca. 0.5 mm; lobes ovate-elliptic, 2.5-4 mm, apex acute, midvein distinct. Corolla white or pale blue, 3-5 mm in diam., tube ca. 0.5 mm; lobes elliptic, 4-8 mm, apex obtuse. Nectaries 2 per corolla lobe, cupular, with a narrow scale and few long fimbriae. Filaments 4-5 mm; anthers ellipsoid, ca. 1.5 mm. Style indistinct; stigma lobes capitate. Capsules ovoid, 5-6 mm. Seeds 3-4 per capsule, brown, ellipsoid to subglobose, 1.5-2 mm; seed coat smooth. Fl. and fr. Jul-Nov.

Himalaya (Ncpal to Bhutan), Khasia, Burma.

Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim].

2000-3200 m

Beside streams, grasslands on hillsides, scrub, mixed forests, bamboo thickets; 1400-4000 m.

Ophelia macrosperma C. B. Clarke, J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 14: 448. 1875; Swertia randaiensis Hayata; S. scandens H. Léveillé.