钻叶风毛菊 zuan ye feng mao ju

Saussurea setifolia Klatt.

Herbs 1.5-10 cm tall, perennial, caespitose. Caudex much branched, with numerous sterile and flowering leaf rosettes forming dense cushions. Leaves sessile; leaf sheath purple, 1-1.2 cm, apically densely villous at margin; leaf blade subulate-linear, 5-12 × 0.5-1 mm, leathery, both surfaces green and glabrous, margin revolute and entire, apex with a white cartilaginous mucro to 1 mm. Uppermost leaves merging into phyllaries. Capitulum solitary, in center of leaf rosettes, very shortly pedunculate. Involucre campanulate, 5-7 mm in diam. Phyllaries in ca. 4 rows, glabrous, apex acuminate; outer phyllaries ovate, 10-14 × 3-5 mm, basal part brownish or purple, apical part green, leaflike, and subulate, apex with a white cartilaginous mucro; middle phyllaries narrowly ovate-elliptic, 6-9 × 2-3 mm, basal part pale yellow, apical part purple; inner phyllaries narrowly elliptic to linear, 6-9 × 1-2 mm. Receptacle bristles brown, to 1 mm. Corolla purplish red, 1-1.2 cm, tube 5-6 mm, limb 4-5 mm, lobes 2.5-3 mm. Achene cylindric, 1.5-3.5 mm, smooth, glabrous. Pappus brown; outer bristles 2-3 mm, scabrid; inner bristles 7-8(-12) mm. Fl. and fr. Jul-Sep.

Gravelly and moist places near rivers, alpine grasslands and meadows, saline or alkaline sandy soils; 4100-5300 m. Gansu, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Xizang [NW India, Kashmir].

The erroneous record of Saussurea subulata from Yunnan by H. Léveillé (Cat. Pl. Yun-Nan, 50. 1916) must be referable to S. wernerioides. Although S. W. Liu (Fl. Yunnan. 13: 543-544. 2004) listed S. subulata for this province as well, he mentioned that he did not see any specimens from there. Consequently, this species should be excluded from the flora of Yunnan.