三花紫菊 san hua zi ju

Lactuca triflora Hemsley, J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 23: 485. 1888; Prenanthes triflora (Hemsley) C. C. Chang.

Herbs, to 1 m tall, perennial. Stem solitary, erect, branched apically, sparsely glandular hairy, leafy. Lower and middle stem leaves with petiole to 17 cm, narrowly winged, basally usually slightly widened; leaf blade lyrately pinnatipartite to subpinnatisect, margin ± sinuate and mucronulately dentate; lateral lobes 1 or 2(or 3) pairs, ± elliptic, 2-6 × 1-4 cm, base cuneate to petiolulate, apex rounded to obtuse; terminal lobe triangular to triangular-ovate, 12-19 × 11-20 cm, base shallowly cordate, hastate, cuneate, or rounded, apex acuminate to acute. Upper stem leaves with petiole shorter, basally slightly widened, or distinctly widened and ± auriculately clasping or ± sessile and auriculately clasping; leaf blade smaller and often less divided, otherwise similar to middle stem leaves; uppermost leaves narrowly elliptic, narrowly rhombic, or broadly linear, undivided. Synflorescence paniculiform, with numerous capitula. Capitula with 3 or 4 florets. Involucre 10-12 × 1.5-2 mm. Phyllaries purple, glabrous; outer phyllaries narrowly ovate to linear-lanceolate, longest ca. 5 × 1 mm, apex acute; inner phyllaries 3 or 4, apex obtuse to acute. Florets bluish purple. Achene 4-5 mm, basally more attenuate than apically. Pappus ca. 7 mm. Fl. and fr. Jul-Oct. 2n = 18*.

● Grasslands, forests; 1400-3000 m. Chongqing, Sichuan (Emei Shan), Yunnan (Tengchong).

Notoseris triflora seems to have a scattered, disjunct distribution in C and SW China. It is apparently closely related to Notoseris khasiana (C. B. Clarke) N. Kilian, Fl. China 20-21: 233. 2011, comb. nov. (basionym: Prenanthes khasiana C. B. Clarke, Compos. Ind. 273. 1876), which has a scattered distribution in NW Myanmar, NE India (Assam), and perhaps Bhutan. The available material of N. triflora shows some variation with respect to leaf shape; therefore, a comparative study of its disjunct populations, as well as those of N. khasiana, would be desirable.