红花垂头菊 hong hua chui tou ju

Stem solitary, erect, 30-47 cm tall, 3-4 mm in diam. at base, densely initially white arachnoid-puberulent, proximally glabrescent. Basal leaves petiolate; petiole to 21 cm, slender, white arachnoid-puberulent, base sheathed; leaf blade reniform, 1.5-3.5 × 2.5-6 cm, abaxially white arachnoid-pilose, adaxially glabrous, palmately veined, abaxially with prominent veins, margin regularly shallowly crenate, tips of teeth mucronate, apex rounded. Middle stem leaves smaller, reniform; petiole enlarged into a leaf blade, abaxially white arachnoid-puberulent, base cordate, semiamplexicaul, margin denticulate. Distal stem leaves sessile, broadly ovate, base semiamplexicaul, margin dentate. Capitulum solitary, nodding. Involucre hemispheric, 1.5-2 × 3-4 cm, outside blackish purple, glabrous; phyllaries 12-14, in 2 rows, 3-4 mm wide, apex acute, mucronate and white ciliate; outer phyllaries lanceolate; inner phyllaries ovate-lanceolate or elliptic, margin broadly membranous. Ray florets purplish red; lamina oblanceolate, 2.5-3 × ca. 1 cm, apex obtuse, denticulate; tube ca. 1.5 mm. Tubular florets numerous, yellow, ca. 8 mm; tube ca. 1 mm; limb campanulate-cylindric; styles slightly extending from corolla, proximally yellowish white, distally blackish gray. Achenes yellowish brown, cuneate, 4-6 mm, ribbed. Pappus white, as long as tubular corolla. Fl. and fr. Aug-Sep.

Alpine meadows, gravelly slopes; 4000-4600 m. W Yunnan [Myanmar].