稻城垂头菊 dao cheng chui tou ju

Stem solitary, erect, purplish red, to 50 cm tall, 3-4 mm in diam. at base, proximally glabrous, distally long white and purplish red pilose. Basal leaves petiolate; petiole 7-9 cm, slender, base sheathed, distally slightly broadened; leaf blade abaxially pale green, adaxially dark green, broadly lanceolate, 2.5-10 cm, middle to 2 cm wide, glabrous, conspicuously pinnately veined, base broadly cuneate to cuneate, margin undulately coarsely triangular-dentate, apex obtuse or acute. Stem leaves 3 or 4. Proximal stem leaves petiolate; petiole short, enlarged into a sheath; leaf blade lanceolate or reduced. Distal stem leaves subulate, ca. 5 mm. Capitulum solitary, nodding. Involucre hemispheric, 0.9-1.5 × 2-2.5 cm, outside densely long purplish red and white pilose; phyllaries 14-16, in 2 rows, linear, 1-2 mm wide, apex acuminate; inner phyllaries narrowly membranous at margin. Ray florets yellow; lamina linear-lanceolate, 3.5-3.7 cm × 3-4 mm, with 5-7 brown veins, apex long acuminate, laciniate-dentate. Tubular florets numerous, purple, 5-7 mm; tube 1-2 mm; limb narrowly tubular; anthers purple. Achenes dark brown, oblanceolate, ca. 4 mm. Pappus white, 7-9 mm, slightly longer than tubular corolla. Fl. Jul-Aug, fr. Aug-Sep.

● Stream banks, alpine swamp meadows, alpine meadows; 4700-5400 m. SW Sichuan.