灯台兔儿风 deng tai tu er feng

Ainsliaea hui Diels ex Mattfeld.

Herbs, perennial, 20-70 cm tall. Leaves clustered, above stem base or crowded near midpoint of stem; petiole (2.5-)3.5-8.5 cm, wingless; leaf blade ovate, 5-7(-9.5) × 3-6 cm, papery, palmate-pinnate veined, abaxially paler than adaxial surface, adaxially subglabrous, base rounded or slightly cordate to truncate, margin entire to denticulate, apex obtuse. Capitula shortly pedunculate, arranged in spikes, 3-flowered; involucre campanulate-cylindric, ca. 3 mm in diam.; phyllaries 6- or 7-seriate, subleathery, glabrous, sparsely pilose above, outer phyllaries ovate, ca. 2.5 mm, inner linear, ca. 7.5 mm. Florets bisexual, usually chasmogamous (occasionally cleistogamous in same plant). Chasmogamous floret corollas white, tubular, ca. 13 mm, deeply 5-lobed, lobes linear-lanceolate, unequal, anther appendages truncate. Achenes oblong, ca. 2.5 mm, glabrous or pilose above; pappus ca. 8 mm. Cleistogamous floret corollas closed, tubular, minutely 5-lobed, ca. 4.5 mm, hidden in pappus. Achenes ca. 6 mm; pappus ca. 9 mm. Fl. Sep-Nov.

● Forests; 600-1600 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Hunan, Taiwan, Zhejiang.

This species and Ainsliaea macroclinidioides are closely related; leaf blade margin slightly entire (vs. dentate) is the only difference between them. Further studies are needed to clarify the relationships and specific limits between these species.