Benth.
Description
Cynoglossum microglochin is a high-altitude species of hound's-tongue distributed across the western and central Himalayas, from Afghanistan and Pakistan through northwest India (Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand) to Nepal, Bhutan, and into southwestern China. GBIF records document 209 occurrences across its range. The species typically inhabits open alpine meadows, grassy slopes, and disturbed ground along trails at elevations of 2,800–4,200 m, where it grows in well-drained, often stony soils among other subalpine and alpine herbaceous communities.
The plant is an erect or ascending perennial herb, 20–50 cm tall, with stems covered in appressed or spreading hairs. Basal leaves are oblanceolate to spatulate, 5–15 cm long, petiolate, with entire margins and a dense indumentum of short, stiff hairs on both surfaces. Cauline leaves are progressively smaller, sessile, and semi-amplexicaul. The inflorescence consists of terminal, ebracteate, scorpioid cymes that elongate considerably in fruit. Flowers are small, 3–5 mm in diameter, with blue to violet corollas; the tube is short, with rounded fornices closing the throat. The nutlets, typically four per flower, are ovoid, 2–3 mm long, and densely covered with short, glochidiate (barbed) prickles — notably smaller than those of congeners such as C. zeylanicum, a character reflected in the epithet 'microglochin' (small barb).
This species is distinguished from the widespread Cynoglossum glochidiatum by its smaller nutlet spines and generally more compact inflorescence. It was photographed at Sena in Garhwal at 3,760 m, near the upper limit of its elevational range. Though not currently assessed by the IUCN, its preference for undisturbed alpine habitats makes it potentially sensitive to grazing pressure and climate-driven upward shifts in vegetation zones. Its biogeographical range, extending from the Hindu Kush to the eastern Himalayas, indicates a broadly adapted yet montane-restricted taxon.
Author: Benth. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of British India Vol. 4, Flora of Pakistan (Boraginaceae), Kazmi (1970) — Revision of Boraginaceae