银背菊 yin bei ju

Dendranthema argyrophyllum (Y. Ling) Y. Ling & C. Shih.

Herbs, perennial, 10-35 cm tall. Stems erect or ascending, robust branched, rarely unbranched, gray-white, densely and thickly villous. Basal leaves small, leaf blade orbicular or suborbicular; lower and middle stem leaves: petiole 2-3.5 cm; leaf blade orbicular, suborbicular, broadly elliptic, broadly ovate, or oblanceolate, 2-3 × 2.5-3.5 cm, abaxially silvery, densely and thickly appressed villous, adaxially green, glabrous or glabrescent, undivided or lyrate-pinnatipartite, base cordate or truncate, margin dentate or double-dentate. Upper stem leaves smaller, oblanceolate or narrowly obovate, coarsely toothed or lyrate-pinnatipartite. Synflorescence a terminal flat-topped cyme. Capitula (1-)3 or 4, 3-4 cm in diam. Involucre cup-shaped, 2-3 cm in diam.; phyllaries in 5 rows, abaxially densely appressed pubescent, scarious margin brown or white, outer ones large, herbaceous, elliptic or oblanceolate, pinnatifid, 1-1.5 cm, middle and inner ones broadly linear, linear-lanceolate, or elliptic, 8-9 mm. Ray floret lamina white, ca. 10 mm. Achenes ca. 2.2 mm. Fl. and fr. Aug-Sep.

● On rocks of mountain slopes; 1400-2100 m. Henan, Shaanxi.