Meconopsis horridula Hook. f. & Thomson, Fl. Ind. 252. 1855 & Fl. Brit. India 1: 118.1872. M. racemosa Maxim. in Bull. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Petersb. 23: 310. 1877.

Herbs, monocarpic, with up to 25 cm long slender taproot; stems subscapose, 15 - 30 (-80) cm long, with dense pale, spreading or deflexed, 3 - 7 mm long prickles throughout. Leaves mostly basal, rosetted, oblanceolate, obovate-elliptie, decurrent at base, acute or rounded at apex, entire to sinuate-lobed, 5 - 15 x 1 - 4 cm; petioles 2 - 6 cm long; stem leaves absent or a few only. Flowers 3 - 10, on 2 - 15 cm long pedicels, borne in a raceme on stout erect stem, often surrounded by 3 - 15 single-flowered lealess 5 - 20 cm long scapes, arising from axils of basal leaves. Sepals oblong, obtuse, 1 - 2 cm white ovary. Petals 4 - 8, obovate, denticulate at top, 2 - 3 cm long, usually blue, rarely white. Ovary ellipsoid, densely prickly, bearing 2 - 5 mm long style; stigma capitate or clavate.Capsules broadly ellipsoid, oblong, 1 - 2 x 1 cm, prickly, 5 - 6-valved, dehiscing only near apex; seeds subreniform, ca 8 mm long.

Fl. & Fr. July - Sept.

Distrib. India: Eastern Himalayas, alpine cliffs and meadows, 3800 - 4700 m.Sikkim

Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and China (Tibet).

Notes. Chromosome no. n = 28 (Ratter in Notes R. Bot. Gard. Edinb. 28: 191 - 200. 1967).

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