Swertia quartiniana A.Rich.

Perennial herb with basal leaf rosette.. Stems 14–46 cm long, robust, unbranched except for the inflorescence, but sometimes with 2–3 stems arising from rootstock, stem angles smooth.. Basal rosette leaves with ± winged petiole, the latter 15–60 mm long; blade lanceolate-oblong, 25–60 mm long, 11–35 mm wide, obtuse; cauline leaves sessile, rarely shortly petiolate, blade linear-lanceolate, oblong-lanceolate to lanceolate, 19–50 mm long, 9–20 mm wide, obtuse.. Inflorescences corymbose, partial inflorescences many, each 6–8-flowered; pedicels 11–25 mm long, pedicel of the terminal flower always shorter than pedicels of lateral flowers; bracteole oblong or oblong-lanceolate, 7–10 mm long, 2–4 mm wide, obtuse.. Flowers 5-merous.. Calyx lobes: 2 wider and longer than others, linear-oblong or lanceolate, 5–7.5 mm long, 1–1.5 mm wide.. Corolla blue in bud, otherwise purplish; tube very short, 0.4–1.1 mm long; lobes oblong or elliptic-lanceolate, 10.5–13 mm long, 4–5 mm wide, obtuse; nectaries 2 per lobe, yellow with green patches around, oblong, 0.7–1.2 mm diameter, 0.7–1 mm apart, 5.6–7.2 mm from base of lobes, oblong, margins fimbriate, fimbriae 1.9–3.7 mm long, filiform.. Stamens with filaments 5.9–7.2 mm long, scale-like projections present at attachment point to base of corolla lobes; anthers oblong, 1.5–2.2 mm long.. Ovary oblong, 4.5–6 mm long, 2–3 mm diameter; style obsolete; stigma bilobed, lobes 0.3–1.2 mm long, 0.5–1.5 mm wide, obtuse, forming crescent-shaped rims on capsule valves; parietal placentae indistinct.. Capsule oblong, 8–13 mm long, 3–5 mm wide.. Seeds brown, 0.3–0.5 mm in diameter, surface reticulate.