疆菊 jiang ju

Serratula tenuifolia Bongard, Bull. Sci. Acad. Imp. Sci. Saint-Pétersbourg 8: 340. 1841; Jurinea tenuis Bunge.

Herbs 15-50 cm tall. Rootstock branched, densely covered with dark scales. Stems erect, unbranched, slender, unwinged, cobwebby to glabrescent. Leaves sessile, linear to linear-lanceolate, 3-20 × 0.4-0.7 cm, soft, abaxially grayish white and densely thickly felted, adaxially green and glabrous, base narrowed, apex acuminate to acute. Involucre 0.8-1.2 cm in diam., glabrous or subglabrous. Phyllaries in 6 or 7 rows; outer phyllaries broadly triangular to ovate, 3-3.5 × ca. 2 mm, apical spine ca. 0.5 mm; middle and inner phyllaries ovate, elliptic, or broadly linear, 6-11 × 1-1.5 mm, apical spine 1-2 mm. Corolla blue to purplish red, ca. 1.3 cm, tube ca. 6 mm. Achene ellipsoid, 6-7 mm, with toothed apical rim. Pappus scales of inner row 0.8-1.2 cm, longer than outer row. Fl. and fr. Jun-Jul.

Grasslands on rocky mountain slopes; 1200-1700 m. Xinjiang (Tian Shan) [Kazakhstan].