山地风毛菊 shan di feng mao ju

Herbs 3-5 cm tall, perennial, stemless, caespitose. Caudex stout, usually branched at ground level, with several sterile and flowering leaf rosettes. Leaves petiolate; petiole purple, to 5 mm; leaf blade narrowly obovate or narrowly elliptic, 1-3 × 0.4-1 cm, abaxially glaucous and sparsely villous but glabrescent, adaxially green and villous, base cuneate-attenuate, margin entire, apex obtuse to rounded and with a short mucro. Capitulum solitary, in center of leaf rosette, sessile. Involucre campanulate, 0.8-1.2 cm in diam. Phyllaries in ca. 4 rows, purple and yellowish to brownish villous in distal part, apex usually obtuse; outer phyllaries ovate, 6-7 × 3-4 mm; middle phyllaries narrowly ovate-elliptic, 7-11 × 2-3 mm, apex acute to obtuse; inner phyllaries narrowly elliptic to linear, 11-15 × 1.5-3 mm, apex acute. Receptacle bristles subulate, ca. 1.5 mm. Corolla purple, 1.6-1.7 cm, gland-dotted, tube 7-10 mm, limb 6-10 mm, lobes 5-6 mm. Achene cylindric, 4-5 mm, wrinkled, glabrous, apically with a crenulate rim. Pappus straw-colored; outer bristles few, 3-6 mm, plumose, often lacking; inner bristles 1-1.5 cm. Fl. and fr. Aug-Oct.

● Alpine pastures; 3600-4600 m. SW Sichuan (Muli), NW Yunnan (Lijiang).

Like Saussurea melanotricha, S. montana is also very close to S. spatulifolia and probably not clearly separated at species level. However, the indumentum is clearly very different, and no transient forms have been observed.