Megacarpaea polyandra
Benth. in Hooker's J. Bot. Kew Garden Misc. 7: 356,
t. 7. 1855; Hook. f. & T. Anderson in Fl. Brit. India 1: 161. 1872.
Kash.: Chach, Chatri, Chattarhak.
Robust herbs or undershrubs, up to 60 cm high, glabrous or subhairy, much-branched. Basal leaves long-petioled, bipinnately dissected, 30 - 60 x 15 - 25 cm; lobes lanceolate, sharply serrate along margins, acuminate at apex, 10 - 20 x 2.5 cm. Cauline leaves pinnately lobed, 10 - 30 x 5 - 25 cm; lobes lanceolate, irregularly serrate; petioles often flattened and auricled at base, sometimes spongy in nature. Racemes panicled, many-flowered, dense, elongating up to 25 cm long in fruit, densely capitate hairy. Sepals obovate or elliptic-obovate, concave, 3.7 - 5 x 3.5 mm, prominently veined. Petals obovate or oblong, attenuate at base, 3.5 - 5.5 x 2 - 3 mm, white or creamy yellow. Fruits suborbicular, bilobed, 3 - 3.5 cm across; lobes unequal in size, rarely one lobe abortive; wings about as broad as the locule. Seeds reniform, black, ca 1 x 0.8 cm.
Fl. & Fr. May - Aug.
Distrib. India: Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
Nepal, Pakistan and China (W. Tibet).
Robust herbs or undershrubs, up to 60 cm high, glabrous or subhairy, much-branched. Basal leaves long-petioled, bipinnately dissected, 30 - 60 x 15 - 25 cm; lobes lanceolate, sharply serrate along margins, acuminate at apex, 10 - 20 x 2.5 cm. Cauline leaves pinnately lobed, 10 - 30 x 5 - 25 cm; lobes lanceolate, irregularly serrate; petioles often flattened and auricled at base, sometimes spongy in nature. Racemes panicled, many-flowered, dense, elongating up to 25 cm long in fruit, densely capitate hairy. Sepals obovate or elliptic-obovate, concave, 3.7 - 5 x 3.5 mm, prominently veined. Petals obovate or oblong, attenuate at base, 3.5 - 5.5 x 2 - 3 mm, white or creamy yellow. Fruits suborbicular, bilobed, 3 - 3.5 cm across; lobes unequal in size, rarely one lobe abortive; wings about as broad as the locule. Seeds reniform, black, ca 1 x 0.8 cm.
Fl. & Fr. May - Aug.
Distrib. India: Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
Nepal, Pakistan and China (W. Tibet).
