利马川风毛菊 li ma chuan feng mao ju

Saussurea mollis Franchet (1894), not (Cavanilles) Sprengel (1826).

Herbs to 1 m tall, perennial. Stem solitary, erect, apically branched, narrowly winged, glabrous. Basal and lower stem leaves usually withered at anthesis. Middle and upper stem leaves shortly petiolate; petiole base inconspicuously small auriculate and decurrent on stem; leaf blade ovate to elliptic, 6-11 × 2.5-4.5 cm, abaxially grayish green and arachnoid tomentose, adaxially dark green and glabrous, base cuneate-attenuate and decurrent on petiole, margin sinuate-denticulate, apex caudate-acuminate. Uppermost stem leaves subsessile, narrowly ovate-elliptic, smaller, margin subsinuate or entire. Capitula numerous, in a clustered corymbiform synflorescence at end of stem and branches, shortly pedunculate. Involucre campanulate, 5-6 mm in diam. Phyllaries in ca. 5 rows, brown, glabrous; outer phyllaries ovate, 2-3 × 1-1.5 mm, apex acute; middle phyllaries ovate, 3-6 × 1.5-2 mm, apex obtuse; inner phyllaries linear, 6-8 × 1-1.5 mm, apex rounded. Corolla purple, 8-9(-12) mm, tube 3-5 mm, limb 4.5-5 mm, lobes ca. 3 mm. Achene cylindric, ca. 3 mm, glabrous. Pappus pale brown; inner bristles 7-8 mm. Fl. and fr. Aug-Oct.

● Montane grasslands; 2000-3300 m. Chongqing, Hubei, Sichuan, NC Yunnan.