方叶垂头菊 fang ye chui tou ju

Senecio principis Franchet, J. Bot. (Morot) 10: 412. 1896; Cremanthodium gypsophilum R. D. Good.

Stem solitary, erect, 10-30 cm tall, 1.5-3 mm in diam. at base, proximally glabrous, distally brown puberulent. Basal leaves petiolate; petiole 2-6 cm, brown puberulent, base sheathed; leaf blade oblong, square, or suborbicular, 1.8-5 × 2-5 cm, herbaceous, glabrous or abaxially brown pilose along veins, pinnately veined, abaxially with conspicuous veins, base cordate, margin denticulate, apex rounded, truncate, or retuse. Middle to distal stem leaves few, smaller distally, sessile, bracteal, square to linear. Capitulum solitary, nodding. Involucre hemispheric, 8-13 × 10-20 mm, outside brown puberulent or glabrate, glabrescent; phyllaries ca. 12, in 2 rows, 3-5 mm wide, apex acute; outer phyllaries lanceolate; inner phyllaries oblong, margin brown membranous. Ray florets yellow; lamina oblong, 1.6-2.5 cm × to 8 mm, dentate or lobed, apex acute or truncate; tube 4-5 mm. Tubular florets numerous, yellow, ca. 8 mm; tube ca. 3 mm. Achenes dark brown, cylindric, ca. 5 mm. Pappus brown, as long as tubular corolla. Fl. and fr. Jun-Jul.

● Alpine scrub, alpine meadows, rocky places; 3600-4600 m. SW Sichuan, NW Yunnan.