箭叶垂头菊 jian ye chui tou ju

Stem solitary, erect, purplish red, 10-20 cm tall, 1.5-2 mm in diam. at base, proximally glabrous, distally brown and white pilose. Leaves nitid, leathery. Basal leaves petiolate; petiole purplish red, 2-5 cm, base narrowly sheathed; leaf blade abaxially pale green, adaxially dark green, sagittate, 1.5-3 × 1.2-2 cm, pinnate veins prominent abaxially, base deeply cordate, margin sparsely denticulate or entire, apex acute; basal lobes slightly divergent. Stem leaves 1 or 2. Middle stem leaves smaller, sagittate, petiolate; petiole purplish red, base enlarged into a sheath. Distal stem leaves bracteal, linear. Capitulum solitary, nodding. Involucre hemispheric, 1.1-1.3 × 1.8-2.5 cm, outside glabrous, base brown pilose; phyllaries 12-14, in 2 rows, oblong or broadly elliptic, 3-8 mm wide, apex acute; inner phyllaries pale brown membranous at margin. Ray florets yellow; lamina lanceolate, 1.5-2.5 cm × 6-8 mm, apex acuminate, 2- or 3-lobed; tube 1.5-2 mm. Tubular florets numerous, yellow, 6-7 mm; tube 1.5-2 mm; limb narrowly tubular, anthers blackish purple. Achenes narrowly oblanceolate, ca. 5 mm, ribbed. Pappus pale brown, 4-5 mm, shorter than tubular corolla. Fl. and fr. Jul-Oct.

● Alpine meadows; 3400-4400 m. NE Yunnan.