Meconopsis discigera Prain in Ann. Bot. 20: 356, t. 24, f. 12. 1906.

Monocarpic herbs with slender taproot; stems 30 - 70 cm high, stout, sulcate, clothed with golden brown barbellate patent or deflexed bristles or their persistent bases. Leaves entire or 3-lobed, oblanceolate or elliptic-oblanceolate, subacute or rounded at apex; basal leaves ca 15 cm long (incl. petiole); upper ones sessile. Flowering stem solitary, ribbed, forming leafy 10 - 15-flowered racemes; pedicels 2 - 5 cm long, hairy, decurrent on stem, swollen at apex. Petals 4, obovate, 4 - 5 x 3 - 4 cm, red, purple or pale blue. Filaments filiform, dark coloured. Ovary oblong, truncate, densely yellow bristly; styles slender, elongate, 5 - 6 mm long, bearing 6 - 10 linear erect lobes. Capsules oblong, 6-ribbed, 2 - 3 cm long, appressed bristly, dehiscing by 6 - 10 valves, crowned with ovate laciniate reflexed 5 - 7 mm long persistent stylar disc; seeds reniform, ribbed and reticulate.

Fl. & Fr. June - Sept.

Distrib. India: Alpine cliffs and rocky ravines, 3400 - 4800 m. Sikkim.

Bhutan, Nepal, China (Tibet).

Notes. Chromosome no. n = 40 ( Ernst in Madrono 18: 122 - 126. 1965; n = 41, c. 40 (Ratter in Notes R. Bot. Gard. Edinb. 28: 191 - 200.1967).

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