(Hook. f. & Thomson) Collett & Hemsl.
Description
Adenophora khasiana is a Sino-Himalayan ladybell distributed from the eastern Himalaya through northeastern India (including the Khasi Hills, source of the epithet), Bhutan and Myanmar into southern China, with scattered records elsewhere reflecting herbarium and cultivated material; GBIF documents some 327 occurrences. It is a plant of the temperate montane belt, occurring on grassy banks, forest margins, scrub and open rocky slopes, as recorded near Wangdi in Bhutan at 2700 m. Flowering in late summer and autumn (September), it favours well-drained, sunny to lightly shaded sites within the broadleaved and mixed forest zone.
It is an erect perennial herb arising from a thickened, fleshy taproot, the stems simple or sparingly branched and exuding milky latex when broken, as is characteristic of the family. The leaves are alternate, sessile or short-petiolate, ovate to lanceolate and toothed along the margin. The flowers are borne in a lax terminal panicle or raceme; the corolla is campanulate to broadly funnel-shaped and blue to pale violet, with five short lobes. Diagnostic for the genus is the tubular nectary disc surrounding the base of the style, and the elongate style that is usually exserted beyond the corolla. The fruit is a capsule dehiscing by basal pores to shed numerous small seeds.
The species was transferred to Adenophora by Collett & Hemsley from a basionym of Hooker f. & Thomson. Adenophora is distinguished from the closely related Campanula primarily by its conspicuous cylindrical nectariferous disc at the base of the style, a key character in the taxonomy of the Campanulaceae. The protandrous, nectar-rich flowers attract bees and other long-tongued insects. The fleshy roots of several Adenophora species are used in East Asian herbal medicine. Widespread and locally common, A. khasiana is not considered threatened.
Author: (Hook. f. & Thomson) Collett & Hemsl. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Hong's monograph of the genus Adenophora (Campanulaceae)