奇萊青木香

Stems 5-15 cm tall, slender, puberulent, simple. Petiole of lower leaves 1.5-4 cm long, sometimes winged. Leaves coriaceous, oblong or broadly ovate, 2-5 cm long, apex acuminate, acute or obtuse, base truncate or cuneate into petiole, margins irregularly mucronulate-dentate, distinctly lyrate-trifid, lateral lobes small, margins irregularly mucronulate-denticulate, upper surface puberulous, lower surface white lanate; upper leaves gradually smaller, oblong to ovate or lanceolate, apex acute to acuminate, base cuneate to truncate; petiole shorter, winged, or leaves sessile. Heads 1-4, congested, subsessile or short pedunculate, 6 mm broad. Involucre campanulate, 9×6 mm, bracts 4-seriate, outer bracts shorter, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, middle ones oblong, acute, inner ones linear, acute.

ILAN: Nanhutashan, Chen 6848; Yamazaki et al. s.n. 1969.

Endemic; rocky or scree habitats on summits in the northern and central parts of the central mountain range, 3,500 m, rare.

The type of Saussurea kiraisanensis was collected from Nengkaoshan, not from Chilaishan as implied by the specific epithet (“Kiraisan”＝Japanese romanization of “Chilaishan”).