《中国植物志》|| 紫草科 BORAGINACEAE ||软紫草属 Arnebia Forssk. ||黄花软紫草 Arnebia guttata Bunge

4．黄花软紫草 内蒙古紫草（中药鉴别手册）
Arnebia guttata Bge. Ind. Sem. Hort. Dorpat 1840: 7. 1840; Hand. -Mazz. in Oester. Bot. Zeits. 88: 306. 1939; Johnst. in Journ. Arn. Arb. 35: 56. 1954; M. Pop. in Fl. URSS 19: 176. 1953; Kazmi in Journ. Arn. Arb. 52: 493. 1971; 中国高等植物图鉴3: 550. 图5053. 1974; 朱格麟, 植物分类学报20: 3. 327. 1982. ——Arnebia tibetana Kurz in Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal 43(2): 189. 1872; Clarke in Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind. 4: 176. 1883.——Lithospermum guttatum (Bge.) Johnst. in Journ. Arn. Arb. 33: 3 31. 1952. ——Arnebia thomsonii Clarke in Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind. 4: 176. 1883.
多年生草本。根含紫色物质。茎通常2-4条，有时1条，直立，多分枝，高10-25厘米，密生开展的长硬毛和短伏毛。叶无柄，匙状线形至线形，长1.5-5.5厘米，宽3-11毫米，两面密生具基盘的白色长硬毛，先端钝。镰状聚伞花序长3-10厘米，含多数花；苞片线状披针形。花萼裂片线形，长6-10毫米，果期可达15毫米，有开展或半贴伏的长伏毛；花冠黄色，筒状钟形，外面有短柔毛，檐部直径7-12毫米，裂片宽卵形或半圆形，开展，常有紫色斑点；雄蕊着生花冠筒中部（长柱花）或喉部（短柱花），花药长圆形，长约1.8毫米；子房4裂，花柱丝状，稍伸出喉部（长柱花）或仅达花冠筒中部（短柱花），先端浅2裂，柱头肾形。小坚果三角状卵形，长2.5-3毫米，淡黄褐色，有疣状突起。花果期6-10月。
产西藏、新疆、甘肃西部、宁夏、内蒙古至河北北部。生戈壁、石质山坡、湖滨砾石地。印度西北部、巴基斯坦、克什米尔地区、阿富汗、苏联中亚地区及西伯利亚、蒙古也有分布。模式标本采自阿尔泰山东部。
本种在体态、花冠檐的直径和有无紫色斑点，以及毛被物情况等方面都有较大的变异辐度。在西藏的标本上，除花萼上的毛较密而开展外，再看不出更大的差别。因此，我们赞成Johnston的意见，将A. tibetana Kurz和A. thomsonii Clarke归并于本种。
根代紫草入药，功效与紫草同。

《Flora of China》|| Boraginaceae || Arnebia ||黄花软紫草 Arnebia guttata

4. Arnebia guttata Bunge, Index Sem. Hort. Petrop. 7. 1840.

黄花软紫草 huang hua ruan zi cao

Arnebia thomsonii C. B. Clarke; A. tibetana Kurz; Lithospermum guttatum (Bunge) I. M. Johnston; Macrotomia guttata (Bunge) Farrer.

Herbs perennial or sometimes biennial. Roots containing purple dye. Stems usually 2-4, sometimes only 1, erect, much branched, 10-25 cm tall, densely spreading long hispid, short strigose. Leaves sessile, spatulate-linear to linear, 1.5-5.5 cm × 3-11 mm, densely hirsute, hairs discoid at base, apex obtuse. Inflorescences crowded; cymes 3-10 cm; bracts linear-lanceolate. Flowers heterostylous. Calyx lobes linear, 6-10 mm, to 1.5 cm in fruit, long hispid. Corolla yellow, tubular-campanulate, pubescent outside; limb 7-12 mm wide; lobes spreading, broadly ovate or semiorbicular, frequently purple spotted. Anthers oblong, ca. 1.8 mm. Style filiform, apex 2-lobed; stigma reniform. Nutlets light yellow-brown, triangular-ovate, 2.5-3 mm, tuberculate. Fl. and fr. Jun-Oct.

Gobi Desert, rocky slopes, gravelly marshes. W Gansu, N Hebei, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Xinjiang, Xizang [Afghanistan, NW India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan]

There are biennial and perennial groups within the species, the former predominantly in Russia and Mongolia, the latter in Xizang and Xinjiang (Arnebia tibetana). These groups, which lack the blackish purple spots on corolla lobes, probably represent distinct subspecies.

The roots are used medicinally.