大花鹤虱 da hua he shi

Echinospermum macranthum Ledebour, Fl. Altaic. 1: 205. 1829.

Herbs annual. Stems 20-40 cm, usually branched from base; branches ascending, sparsely spreading pubescent. Leaves light green, lanceolate-spatulate or oblong, wide and flat, 2-4 cm × 5-10 mm, abaxially densely spreading pubescent, apex obtuse. Infructescences branches 3-8 cm, not very loose; bracts small lanceolate. Pedicel 1-2 cm, pubescent. Calyx 1.5-2 mm, elongated in fruit; lobes lanceolate. Corolla sky blue; limb slightly funnelform, 5-8 mm wide; lobes ovate-rounded. Nutlets 4-5 mm; disc with keel of small anchorlike spines and tuberculate, margin with flat whitish yellow glochids 2-3 mm; glochids 4-6 on each side of disc. Style completely hidden. Fl. Apr-Jun, fr. May-Jul.

Sandy and acidic soils of mountain slopes. NW Xinjiang (Ertix He River, Altay Shan) [Kazakhstan, Mongolia]

It is doubtful that this species belongs in Lappula. The short style hidden by the nutlets and the comparatively short attachment scar of the nutlets are more characteristic of Lepechiniella.