Gentiana gaurii - Roopkund Gentian

Roopkund Gentian is a newly discovered (2026) Gentian species. It is named for the botanist Rameshwar Dutt Gaur, of HNB Garhwal University. It is a tiny perennial herb, only 1.5-6 cm tall, with erect, simple, hairless stems arising from a rootstock bearing a few slender fleshy taproots and fibrous roots. The funnel-shaped flowers are dark blue with yellowish-white streaks and brownish external spots; its tube measures 1.6-2.2 cm long and bears broadly ovate to triangular lobes. Five stamens are inserted below the middle of the flower tube. The sepal-cup is narrowly obconic with a 7-11 mm long angular tube and linear to sickle shaped sepals. The ovary is ellipsoid, hairless, and 1.2-1.3 cm long, ending in a short bifid style with recurved stigma lobes. Flowers are borne singly at stem ends, stalkless. Leaves are not arranged in a basal rosette but occur on both vegetative shoots and flowering stems. Vegetative leaves are crowded, linear-lanceshaped, 4-7 mm long, while flowering stem leaves are broader, lanceshaped-elliptic, 4.5-5.5 mm long. All leaves have papillate-toothed margins and an indistinct midrib when dry. Fruits are ovoid-ellipsoid capsules. Roopkund Gentian is known only from Roop Kund area, Chamoli, Uttarakhand, at about 4300 m. Flowering: September.