三指雪兔子 san zhi xue tu zi

Herbs 8-15[-20] cm tall, perennial, polycarpic. Caudex usually branched. Stem solitary, 3-8 mm in diam., erect, simple, hidden by reflexed leaves. Rosette and lower stem leaves petiolate; leaf blade spatulate, 5-25 × 2-6 mm, both surfaces grayish green and densely white or yellowish lanate, margin apically 3-6-lobed, apex obtuse to rounded. Middle and upper stem leaves narrowly spatulate to linear, 1-3(-4.5) × 0.3-0.7(-1) cm, margin apically 2-6-lobed or entire, apex obtuse to rounded. Capitula usually numerous, in a hemispheric synflorescence 2-3(-5.5) cm in diam. or rarely solitary, sessile. Involucre oblong to cylindric, 3.5-4(-8) mm in diam. Phyllaries in 3 or 4 rows, linear-oblong, 9-13 × 1.5-3 mm, subequal, apex acute; outer phyllaries densely villous; middle and inner phyllaries membranous, apically sparsely pilose. Receptacle bristles 0.2-0.5(-1.5) mm. Corolla dark to blackish purple, 1-1.4 cm, tube 5-7.5 mm, limb 5-6 mm, lobes 1.5-2.7 mm. Achene brown, cylindric to obconic, [3.2-]5-7 mm, smooth, glabrous. Pappus straw-colored to light brown; outer bristles thin, plumose, 2-4 mm; inner bristles 1-1.2 cm. Fl. and fr. Aug-Sep. 2n = 36*.

Alpine scree slopes, among boulders, grasslands on mountain slopes; 4300-5300 m. S Xizang [Bhutan, India (Sikkim), Nepal].

Lower Taxa

• Saussurea tridactyla var. maiduoganla S. W. Liu
• Saussurea tridactyla var. tridactyla