瓜叶菊 gua ye ju

Cineraria hybrida Willdenow, Enum. Pl. 2: 893. 1809, not Bernhardi (1800).

Herbs, perennial. Stems erect, 30-70 cm tall, sparsely to densely white pubescent. Leaf petiole 4-10 cm, basally expanded and amplexicaul; blade abaxially green, adaxially gray-white, reniform to broadly cordate, sometimes upper leaves triangular-cordate, large, 10-15 × 10-20 cm, densely tomentose, palmately veined, concave abaxially, convex adaxially, base deeply cordate, margin irregularly deltoid-lobed or obtusely dentate, apex acute or acuminate. Uppermost leaves subsessile, smaller. Capitula numerous, terminal, broadly corymbose, 3-5 cm in diam.; peduncles 3-6 cm, coarse. Involucres campanulate, 5-10 × 7-15 mm; phyllaries 1-seriate, lanceolate, apically acuminate. Ray florets purple-red, blue, pink, or whitish; lamina spreading, narrowly elliptic-oblong, 2.5-3.5 × 1-1.5 cm, apically 3-denticulate. Disk florets white, cream-colored, or pink (never yellow), ca. 6 mm. Achenes oblong, 1.5-2 mm, angled or ribbed, at first hairy, glabrescent. Pappus of capillary-like bristles, white, 4-5 mm. Fl. and fr. Mar-Jul.

Widely cultivated in gardens and parks throughout China, also indoors [only known in cultivation, of hybrid origin from species native to Macaronesia (Canary Islands, Madeira)].

Pericallis hybrida is a colorful ornamental plant.