Desideria linearis (N. Busch) Al-Shehbaz

Plants 4-15 cm tall, densely pilose throughout or subglabrous. Trichomes simple, to 1.5 mm. Stems simple, pilose or glabrous. Basal leaves not fleshy, pilose or glabrous, persistent; petiole 2-7(-12) mm, not ciliate; leaf blade broadly obovate or spatulate, 4-15 × 2-12 mm, base cuneate or attenuate, margin 3-5-toothed or rarely entire, apex acute. Cauline leaves similar to basal or linear to lanceolate, 5-10 × 1-3 mm, often entire, shortly petiolate or subsessile. Racemes 8-20-flowered, bracteate throughout; bracts similar to cauline leaves but smaller, often adnate to pedicel. Fruiting pedicels ascending, straight, 2-8(-12) mm, pilose or glabrous. Sepals free, oblong or ovate, 2-3 × 1-1.5 mm, caducous, pilose or with a terminal tuft of trichomes, base not saccate, margin membranous. Petals purple or lavender with paler base, narrowly spatulate, 4-5(-5.5) × 1.5-2.5 mm, apex rounded; claw 2-2.5 mm. Filaments white, slightly dilated at base, median pairs 2.5-3.5 mm, lateral pair 1.8-2.5 mm; anthers ovate, 0.4-0.5 mm. Ovules 16-26 per ovary. Fruit linear, (1.5-)2-3.5(-4.2) cm × (0.8-)1-1.7(-2) mm, flattened; valves pilose or glabrous, distinctly veined; septum complete, membranous; style obsolete; stigma 2-lobed. Seeds brown, ovate, 0.8-1.1 × 0.5-0.8 mm, uniseriate, minutely reticulate. Fl. Jun-Aug, fr. Jul-Sep.

Xinjiang [Kashmir, Nepal, Tajikistan].

Gravelly or sandy slopes, scree, gravelly moraine below glaciers; 3200-6200 m.

Christolea linearis N. Busch in Komarov, Fl. URSS 8: 636. 1939; C. parkeri (O. E. Schulz) Jafri; Ermania kachrooi Dar & Naqshi; E. kashmiriana Dar & Naqshi; E. linearis (N. Busch) Botschantzev; E. parkeri O. E. Schulz; Oreoblastus linearis (N. Busch) Suslova; O. parkeri (O. E. Schulz) Suslova.