蒙疆苓菊 meng jiang ling ju

Herbs 6-25 cm tall, perennial. Caudex stout, branched, apically covered with remains of petioles, densely white lanate. Stems erect, branched from base. Basal leaves petiolate; petiole 2-4 cm, base densely lanate; leaf blade elliptic to narrowly ovate-elliptic, 2-7 × 0.5-1.5 cm, pinnately divided, pinnately lobed, or pinnately dentate, green to grayish green, almost concolorous, glabrous or sparsely arachnoid, margin entire and revolute; lateral lobes 3 or 4 pairs, narrowly elliptic to narrowly triangular-ovate; terminal lobe narrowly ovate-elliptic, longer than lateral ones. Stem leaves sessile, similar to basal leaves or undivided. Capitulum solitary at end of branches. Involucre bowl-shaped, 1.5-2.5 cm in diam. Phyllaries in 4-6 rows, leathery, appressed, gland-dotted, apex acuminate; outer phyllaries narrowly triangular, 4-6 × 1.5-2.5 mm; middle phyllaries narrowly triangular-subulate, 7-11 × 1.5-2.5 mm; inner phyllaries linear, 15-20 × 2-3 mm. Corolla red, 2-2.5 cm, gland-dotted, tube 6-9 mm, limb 1.4-1.6 cm, lobes 5-7 mm. Achene brown, obconic, 4-6 mm, apically sparsely gland-dotted. Pappus bristles dirty white, barbellate, 5-12 mm, with 2-4 of inner ones much longer than others, not connate into a ring, persistent. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Jul-Aug.

Desert steppes; 1000-1500 m. Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Xinjiang [Mongolia].