29. Heracleum millefolium Diels, Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 2: 65. 1906.
裂叶独活 lie ye du huo
Plants 10–50 cm tall, white puberulent. Root fusiform, 30–50 × 5–10 mm; stem collar fibrous with residual sheaths. Stem 2–3-branched, hispid. Leaves mostly basal; petioles 1.5–9 cm; leaf blade narrowly oblong or lanceolate, 2.5–16 × 0.6–2.5 cm, 3–4-pinnate; primary pinnae 4–7 pairs, ultimate segments linear, 2–5 × 0.5–1 mm. Cauline leaves few, similar to the basal, smaller. Inflorescence 1–2-branched, terminal umbels 3–4 cm wide, compact; peduncles 5–25 cm, hispid; bracts 4–5, linear, 2–6 mm, sparsely puberulent; rays 4–12, unequal, 0.5–2.5 cm, scabrid; bracteoles 4–5, linear-lanceolate, 3–5 mm, sometimes 2-lobed at apex, hispidulous. Calyx teeth prominent, triangular, ca. 0.75 mm, unequal. Petals white, yellowish or purplish, outer flowers in umbel radiant, enlarged petals very conspicuous, deeply 2-lobed, abaxially hispidulous. Ovary sparsely puberulent. Fruit broad ovoid, 5–6 × ca. 4 mm, puberulent; lateral ribs narrowly winged; vittae solitary in each furrow, 2 on commissure, clavate, slender, extending to 3/4 length of mericarp. Seed face plane. Fl. Jun–Aug, fr. Sep–Oct. 2n = 22*.
Coniferous forests, sparse forests, forest margins, alpine scrub and meadows, riparian grasslands, crop margins; 2800–5000 m. C and SW Gansu, Qinghai, W Sichuan, SE Xizang, NW Yunnan [Bhutan].
This species is retained within the genus Heracleum on account of the radiant outer flowers and clavate vittae.
