Meconopsis villosa
(Hook. f.) G. Taylor, Acc. Meconopsis 28. 1934. Cathcartia villosa Hook. in Curtis, Bot. Mag. 77: t. 4596. 1851; Hook. f. & Thomson in Fl. Brit. India
1: 119. 1872.
Herbs, polycarpic, perennial; rootstock stout, short, clothed with rufous bristly
membranous persistent leaf sheaths; stems up to 60 cm long, erect, usually unbranched,
patently bristly with rufous barbellate 3 -
5 mm long bristles. Leaves broadly ovate-cordate or orbicular, cuneate or cordate at base, palmately 3 - 5-lobed with palmatilobed
segments,4 - 12 x 6 - 15 cm, appressed hairy, 3 - 5-veined; lobes coarsely or bluntly
toothed; basal leaves shorter, petioled or sessile, passing into bracts. Flowers solitary,
terminal or axillary, 1 - 7 per stem; pedicels slender, 5 - 12 cm long, hairy. Sepals
ovate-oblong, subacute or obtuse, 1.5 -
2 cm long, appressed bristly, yellow. Petals 4,
obovate, suborbicular, obtuse to rounded at apex, 2.5 -
3.5 x 3.5 -
4 cm, yellow. Filaments
8 -
10 mm long, filiform, yellow; anthers yellow to dark brown, ca 2 mm long, basifixed.
Ovary cylindric or narrowly oblong, 1.5 -
2 cm, glabrous; stigma sessile, with 4 -
7 radiating
lobes.Capsules narrowly oblong, cylindric, with 4 -
7 prominent ribs alternating with
faint ribs, 4 -
8 x 0.5 - 0.7 cm, dehiscing by 4 -
7 valves to more than half way down its
length; seeds subreniform, dark.
Fl. & Fr. May - Sept.
Distrib. India: Endemic to Eastern Himalayas, rocky streamsides and forests, 2700 - 4200 m. West Bengal (Darjeeling) and Sikkim.
Nepal and Bhutan.
Notes. Horticulturally valued as an ornamental woodland garden plant for temperate regions.
Chromosome no. n = 16 (Ratter in Notes R. Bot. Gard. Edinb. 28: 191- 200.1967).
Fl. & Fr. May - Sept.
Distrib. India: Endemic to Eastern Himalayas, rocky streamsides and forests, 2700 - 4200 m. West Bengal (Darjeeling) and Sikkim.
Nepal and Bhutan.
Notes. Horticulturally valued as an ornamental woodland garden plant for temperate regions.
Chromosome no. n = 16 (Ratter in Notes R. Bot. Gard. Edinb. 28: 191- 200.1967).