Swertia tetrandra Hochst.

Slender annual herb with basal leaf rosette.. Stems 6–25(–30) cm, unbranched except for inflorescence, stem angles smooth.. Basal rosette leaves mostly falling early, with petioles 1–2 mm long; blade spatulate or elliptic, 8–12 mm long, 3–4 mm wide, obtuse; cauline leaves sessile, blade linear-lanceolate to lanceolate, 10–13 mm long, 2–3 mm wide, acute, narrowed at base.. Inflorescences few-flowered cymes; pedicels 0.3–0.9 mm long, pedicel of the terminal flower always shorter than pedicels of lateral flowers; bracteoles linear-lanceolate, 5–12 mm long, 1–3 mm wide, acute.. Flowers 4-merous.. Calyx lobes: 2 wider and longer than others, longer than corolla lobes, lanceolate, 3.5–10 mm long, 2–3.5 mm wide, acute.. Corolla white or creamy yellow; tube very short, 0.5–0.6 mm long; lobes oblong, 4–8 mm long, 2–4 mm wide, obtuse to subacute; nectaries 2 per lobe, yellow, oblong, 0.3–0.5 mm, 0.2–0.4 mm apart, 0.7–0.9 mm away from base of lobes, margin sparsely fimbriate, fimbriae 0.7–1.2 mm long.. Stamens with filaments 2.2–3 mm long; scale-like projections present at their attachment point to corolla lobes; anthers oblong, 0.5–0.8 mm long.. Ovary oblong, 2–3 mm long, 1–1.5 mm diameter; style obsolete; stigma bilobed, lobes 0.4–0.7 mm long, 0.6–1.3 mm wide, obtuse to acute, forming a narrow crescent-shaped rim at the apex of capsule valves; parietal placentae indistinct.. Capsule oblong, 5–8 mm long, 2–3 mm diameter.. Seeds brown or light brown, 0.3–0.4 mm in diameter; surface slightly reticulate.