Gypsophila cephalotes (Schrenk) F. N. Williams

Herbs perennial, 20--50 cm tall. Roots thick, 3--15 mm in diam. Stems several, caespitose, rarely solitary, erect, branched, distally glandular pubescent. Leaves linear-oblanceolate, 3--6 cm × 3--8 mm, apex obtuse. Corymbose cymes concentrated into subcapitate clusters; peduncle 1--4 cm; bracts lanceolate, margin undulate, membranous, apex acuminate. Pedicel 0.5--2.5 mm, glabrous. Calyx purple, campanulate, 2.5--3 mm, divided for ca. 1/2 its length; lobes slightly undulate and membranous at margin, apex obtuse. Petals white, obovate-oblong, ca. 6 × 1 mm, apex truncate or retuse. Stamens longer than petals. Ovary obovoid, ca. 2 mm. Styles ca. 4 mm, shorter than stamens. Capsule globose, 3--4 mm. Seeds brown, compressed globose, ca. 1.5 mm, truncately tuberculate. Fl. Jun--Aug, fr. Jul--Sep.

N Xinjiang [NE Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, W Mongolia, N Pakistan, Russia (W Siberia)].

Mountain slope grasslands; 1000--3900 m.

Gypsophila fastigiata Linnaeus var. cephalotes Schrenk in Fischer & C. A. Meyer, Enum. Pl. Nov. 1: 92. 1841.