CRETINII ssp. CRETINII

Distribution : Eastern Himalaya: North-eastern India (Assam), Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, Tibet; 3700 – 4100 m. 

Description (according to H. Ohba in IHSP, 2003) :

Dioecious, to 12 cm tall. 

Rhizomes slender, creeping, surculose, 2 - 4 mm in diameter.

Flowering stems 2 - 3, 0.7 - 1.1 mm in diameter, glabrous.

Leaves densely arranged, widely spreading, sessile, linear or very narrowly elliptic or linear-oblanceolate, 7 - 14 x 1.5 – 2.8 mm, tip acute or obtuse, base long-attenuate, entire or very minutely crenulate along the margins, glabrous, sometimes reddish in the apical part.

Inflorescences 3- to 20-flowered, ± 2 x 3 cm in diameter, pedicels 1 - 5 mm.

Flowers : Calyx 3.5 - 5.5 mm, glabrous, sepals subulate or linear, 2.8 – 4.5 mm, petals greenish or yellowish-white, very narrowly elliptic or linear-oblanceolate, 3.5 - 6 mm, ascending, stamens slightly longer than the petals, anthers dark purplish-red.

Flowering time : Mid-June to August