毛连菜 mao lian cai

Hedypnois hieracioides (Linnaeus) Hudson; Picris hieracioides subsp. tsekouensis Kitamura.

Herbs 16-120 cm tall, annual or short-lived perennial. Taproot stout. Stem erect, branched especially in apical third, hirsute with spreading rigid 2-hooked hairs, leafy. Basal leaves (withered before flowering) and lower stem leaves narrowly elliptic to broadly lanceolate, 8-20 × 2-4 cm, adaxially and especially on veins with spreading rigid 2-hooked hairs, base attenuate into a winged petiole-like portion, margin entire to coarsely and sharply dentate, apex acuminate, acute, or obtuse. Middle and upper stem leaves sessile, lanceolate to linear, smaller, base semiamplexicaul to clasping, margin less dentate or entire, otherwise similar to lower stem leaves. Synflorescence corymbiform to corymbosely paniculiform, with some to many capitula. Peduncle slender. Involucre cylindric-campanulate to ovoid, 0.9-1.2 cm. Phyllaries abaxially with whitish rigid 2-hooked hairs along midrib; outer and inner phyllaries ± linear-lanceolate, apex acute to acuminate. Florets yellow. Achene brown, fusiform, 3-5 mm, apex truncate. Pappus 5-6 mm, caducous. Fl. and fr. Jun-Oct. 2n = 10.

Grasslands, mountain slopes, forests, along ditches, fields, wastelands, sandy soils; 200-3600 m. Gansu, Guizhou, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Jilin, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, N India, Kashmir, Kazakhstan, W Russia, Vietnam; SW Asia, Europe, Mediterranean region].

Picris hieracioides has also been introduced to SE Africa and North America.

Delimitation between Picris hieracioides, P. japonica, and other Asian species of the genus needs urgent revision, even with respect to the actual presence of this species in China; see also note to the genus, above. Hence, the above data are to be taken with caution. See also the note under P. japonica. Presence in China and the status of P. hieracioides subsp. kaimaensis Kitamura, said to occur in the Himalaya as well as in NE Asia (Korea, Mongolia), need evaluation in the context of a revision of the P. hieracioides complex in E Asia.