单花雪莲 dan hua xue lian

Aplotaxis uniflora Candolle, Prodr. 6: 539. 1838; Saussurea conica C. B. Clarke; S. uniflora var. conica (C. B. Clarke) Lipschitz; S. uniflora var. sinensis J. Anthony.

Herbs 14-70 cm tall, perennial. Caudex stout, simple or few branched. Stems usually solitary, 3-7 mm in diam., erect, simple. Rosette and lower stem leaves petiolate; leaf blade oblong, elliptic, narrowly elliptic, or obovate, (3-)12-32 × (1-)2-6.5 cm, both surfaces green and glabrescent, margin sinuate-dentate, apex obtuse to acute. Middle and upper stem leaves sessile, elliptic to elliptic-ovate, 7-19 × 2-4.5(-7.5) cm, both surfaces green tinged with purple, base cuneate or auriculate-amplexicaul, apex acute to obtuse. Uppermost stem leaves sessile, elliptic, boat-shaped, 1.5-4.5 × 0.6-1.8 cm, membranous, half-enclosing capitula, both surfaces purplish red, abaxially villous and sometimes glandular hairy, adaxially glabrescent, margin entire, apex acute to acuminate. Capitulum solitary [or several in a corymbiform synflorescence]. Involucre obconic, 2.5-4 cm in diam. Phyllaries in ca. 4 rows, apically villous, apex acuminate; outer phyllaries ovate-triangular, 10-15 × 2.5-5 mm; middle and inner phyllaries narrowly ovate to linear, 1.6-2 × 0.1-0.3 cm. Receptacle bristles 5-7.5 mm. Corolla bluish purple, 1.2-1.8 cm, tube 6-9 mm, limb 6.5-8 mm, lobes 3.6-5.7 mm. Achene blackish brown, cylindric, 4.5-6 mm, indistinctly ribbed. Pappus yellowish white; outer bristles 3-8.5 mm; inner bristles 1-1.3 cm. Fl. and fr. Jul-Sep. 2n = 32.

Forests, thickets, alpine meadows; 3600-4800 m. S Xizang, NW Yunnan [Bhutan, NE India, Nepal].

Saussurea uniflora is a very variable species. Plants with several capitula have been described as S. conica from N India, but there is no reason to keep them separate from S. uniflora at any taxonomic rank. However, the name S. conica has been misapplied in a number of Chinese floras for a different taxon, the recently described S. luae (see discussion under that species).