Silene gangotriana - Gangotri Campion

Gangotri Campion is a recently discovered species of Campion. It is a perennial herb, up to 2 ft tall, with a woody rootstock. Stems are many, branched from the vase, erect or rising, covered with glandular hairs. Leaves are variable - stem leaves are stalkless, ovate, round, round-ovate, 1-6.7 cm long, 0.7-5.7 cm wide, tip pointed, base rounded, glandular-hairy on both surfaces. Leaf margins are wavy, densely glandular-hairy. Upper and lower stem leaves are smaller. Flowers are 1.2-3 cm across, borne in lax 1-3-flowered clusters. Bracts are leafy, ovate pointed, glandular-hairy, with wavy margins. Stalks carrying the flower clusters are laso glandular-hairy. Sepal cup is oblong, tubular, flask-shaped, 1-2.6 cm long, 0.8-2 cm wide, broader at throat, slightly narrowed at mouth, membranous, glandular-hairy, 10-veined, veins dark purple. Sepal teeth are broadly triangular, 0.3-1 cm, long-pointed. Petals are white to purplish white, 1.8-3 cm long, clawed. Limb lobes are repeatedly branched, resulting in 8 or more lobes. Ultimate lobes are further toothed. Gangotri Campion is found on boulders, rocky slopes and sand river beds, in Western Himalayas, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, at altitudes of 3600-4000 m. Flowering: July-September.