圆叶风毛菊 yuan ye feng mao ju

Saussurea tenella Y. Ling.

Herbs 10-30 cm tall, perennial. Stem solitary, erect, simple, apically very narrowly winged or wingless, sparsely arachnoid. Basal leaves withered at anthesis. Middle stem leaves petiolate; petiole 1-1.5 cm, narrowly winged, base enlarged and amplexicaul; leaf blade broadly ovate to orbicular or triangular, 0.5-5.5 × 0.5-4 cm, abaxially arachnoid tomentose, adaxially green and scabrid or glabrous, base truncate to cuneate and decurrent, margin serrulate, apex acute. Upper stem leaves subsessile, slightly smaller. Capitula 1-3, pedunculate. Involucre ovoid-campanulate, ca. 1.3 cm in diam. Phyllaries in ca. 4 rows, pubescent; outer phyllaries narrowly ovate to triangular, apex acuminate; middle phyllaries narrowly ovate-elliptic, apex acute to obtuse; inner phyllaries narrowly elliptic to linear, apex acuminate. Corolla purple, 9-10 mm. Achene cylindric, ca. 4 mm. Pappus dirty white; outer bristles scabrid. Fl. and fr. Aug-Sep.

● Trailsides on mountain slopes; 3100-3300 m. S Shaanxi (Qin Ling), Sichuan.