Microcaryum pygmaeum (C. B. Clarke) I. M. Johnst. (1924: 64)

Chacón, Juliana, Siwakoti, Mohan, Hilger, Hartmut H. & Weigend, Maximilian, 2017, Dwarves on the roof of the world: A taxonomic revision of the Himalayan Lasiocaryeae Weigend (Boraginaceae), Phytotaxa 297 (1), pp. 1-14 : 9-10

1. Microcaryum pygmaeum (C. B. Clarke) I. M. Johnst. (1924: 64)

Basionym:— Eritrichium pygmaeum C. B. Clarke in Hooker (1883: 165). Type:— INDIA, Sikkim: India , Hab. Sikkim, alt. 15000– 16000 ft., September 1849, coll. J. D. H. (J. D. Hooker) s.n. (holotype K-001067030!; isotypes: W-0049605!, M-0188171!, GH-00097561 !) .

= Eritrichium riae H. J. P. Winkl. in Limpricht (1922: 473). Type:— China. Eastern Tibet: Batang-Litang, Lehnen des Gambu gong ka, oberhalb des Lamatempels Ando gato, 4700 m, Limpricht 2242 (holotype WRSL, not seen).

Description:—Short-lived annual herbs, with ephemeral leaf rosette (drying at flowering), ca. 1–3 cm tall overall; stems unbranched or very shortly branched, primary shoot and later shoots unequal in length, primary shoot 0.5–2.5 cm and laterals much shorter <0.5 cm. Leaves with lamina ovate, rarely obovate, 5–12 × 3–5 mm, apex rounded, base narrowed, subsessile; adaxially and abaxially pubescent, trichomes soft, ca. 1 mm long, not exceeding distal leaf margin. Flowers arising in dense terminal monochasia, architecture obscured by pedicels <1 mm apart and elongating from 1–2 mm in flower to 5–10 mm in fruit; calyx divided to base, lobes narrowly obovate, ca. 2 × 1 mm, pubescent; corolla hypocrateriform, limb 1–1.5 mm wide, white or azure, tube ca. 1–1.5 mm long, lobes ovate, glabrous, tube with yellow faucal scales, indistinctly two-lobed; anthers broadly ovoidal, included, ca. 1 mm long; style 1–1.5 mm, stigma subglobose. Nutlets erect, ovoidal, ca. 1 × 0.5 mm, rugose and glabrous, adaxially keeled, attached with basal, ovate-triangular cicatrix to subulate gynobase.

Notes: —This species is easily recognized by the flowers that are borne above the tiny leaves. The minute, rugose nutlets are superficially similar to those found in some American species of Plagiobothrys and Cryptantha Lehm. ex G.Don , but differs by the basal cicatrix (vs. adaxial, suprabasal cicatrix found in Lasiocaryum and Chionocharis ).

Distribution and habitat: —Widespread at high elevations. Occurs in southwestern China over Bhutan to Nepal and northwestern India. Restricted to open, high alpine habitats, where it occurs mostly on shallow soils over rock and in rock crevices ca. 3500–5000 m.

Specimens examined:— INDIA. Sikkim: Above Tangu , 15500 ft., 13 August 1909, Smith & Cave 2394 (K!) ; Llowok , 14500 ft., 01 August 1909, Smith & Cave 1837 (K!) ;— CHINA. Sichuan Province: Xiangcheng Xian, ca. 7 km of the town of Reda on peaks above Pass , N 99º 36´22´´, E 29º 07´23´´, 4000 m, 16 July 1998, D. E. Boufford et al. 28810 (A!) ; Daocheng Xian, SW side of JHaizi Shan between Sandui and Litang , N 100º 08´58´´, E 29º 23´09´´, 4500–4600 m, 01 July 1998, D. E. Boufford et al. 28076 (A!) ; Xiangcheng Xian, vicinity of the town of Reda, Rizhao Shen Shan from gorge behind Silong village , N 29º 06´09´´, E 99º 40´15´´, 3600–3850 m, 16 July 1998, D. E. Boufford et al. 30692 (A!) ; Litang Xian, road from Litang to Daocheng , W of Tuer Shan, N 29º 40´54´´, E 100º 22´34´´, 3670 m, 09 August 2006, D. E. Boufford 36208 ( GH!, BONN!) ;— NEPAL: Balangra Pass , 4270 m, 21 July 1952, O. Polunin, W. R. Sykes, L. H. J. Williams 2534 (A!) .

Lasiocaryum I. M. Johnst. (1925: 46) , nom. nov. pro Oreogenia I. M. Johnst. , non Orogenia S. Watson (1871, Apiaceae ). Type:— Lasiocaryum munroi (C. B. Clarke) I. M. Johnst. ( Eritrichium munroi C. B. Clarke )

= Setulocarya R. R. Mill & D. G. Long in Mill (1996: 113)

Description:—Short-lived annual herbs, arising from ephemeral or persistent leaf rosette; stems between 0.5–10 cm long. Leaves with lamina ovate, rarely obovate, apex acuminate to rounded, adaxially pubescent, trichomes soft or scabrid, ca. 1 mm long, not exceeding distal leaf margin. Flowers arising in initially dense, then elongating terminal monochasia (internodes longer than pedicels), flowers exposed on pedicels shorter than subtending bracts. Nutlets erect, ovoidal, 0.8–1 × 0.4–0.6 mm, appressed pubescent, trichomes scattered or in sparse parallel lines over dorsal surfaces, adaxially keeled, attached with suprabasal, oval to oblong cicatrix to subulate gynobase.

Lasiocaryum includes three species that range from northwestern India to southwestern China.