Meconopsis bella Prain in J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal 63(2): 82. 1894.

Herbs, polycarpic, with up to 17 cm long stout narrow elongated perennial taproot; caudex ca 2.5 cm long, covered by a rosette of numerous withered petiole-bases. Leaves numerous, crowded, 1.5 - 6 cm long, all basal, variable, simple, elliptic-lanceolate or oblong, attenuate at base, obtuse at apex, deeply pinnatisect or bipinnatisect, 1.5 - 6 x 0.5 - 1 cm, glabrous or sparsely bristly; ultimate segments usually 3-fid, obovate or obovate-oblong; petioles 2.5 - 10 cm long, slender, glabrous or sparsely bristly with expanded persistent bases. Flowers solitary on leafless 4 - 15 cm long bristly erect scapose stems; scapes 1 - 25, recurved and up to 20 cm long in fruits. Sepals 2, oblong, 7 - 10 mm long, glabrous or sparsely hairy. Petals 4, rarely 5 - 6, pale blue or purple, ohovate-suborbicular, entire or denticulate, 2 - 3 x 2.5 cm. Filaments 5 - 7 mm long, dark purple; anthers ca 2 mm long, golden yellow. Ovary ellipsoid, glabrous or sparsely bristly; styles 2 - 5 mm long, stout, swollen at base. Capsules narrowly obovoid, pear-shaped, 15 - 20 x 6 - 8 mm, dehiscing by 4 - 7 valves only near apex; seeds ellipsoid, ca 1.3 mm long, ribbed.

Fl. & Fr. June - Oct.

Distrib. India: Eastern Himalayas, on alpine steep grassy slopes, 3700 - 4800 m. Sikkim.

Bhutan and Nepal.