巨头火石花 ju tou huo shi hua

Replaced synonym: Gerbera macrocephala Y. C. Tseng, Acta Bot. Austro Sin. 3: 12. 1986, not Gerbera macrocephala Lessing, Linnaea 5: 295. 1830.

Herbs, perennial. Leaves in basal rosette; petiole 5-10 cm, white lanuginous; leaf blade ovate-oblong or oblong, 17-29 × 7-14 cm, papery, abaxially densely lanuginous, adaxially lanuginous, base cordate, margin repand, apex mucronate. Scapes solitary, 17-40 cm, densely white lanuginous; bracts many, subulate, ca. 1.3 cm, abaxially lanuginous. Capitula solitary, erect, terminal, radiate, 5.5-7 cm in diam.; involucre broadly campanulate, 4.5-5 cm in diam.; phyllaries 4- or 5-seriate, densely white lanuginous, apices green, mucronate or subobtuse, outer phyllaries lanceolate, 4-6 mm, inner phyllaries oblong, 1.5-2 cm. Marginal female florets bilabiate, white, outer lips rounded to narrowly elliptic, 22-24 × 5-6 mm, inner lips 13-15 mm; central bisexual florets many, bilabiate, corolla ca. 2.1 cm. Achenes (immature) terete, ca. 6 mm, densely villous; pappus light yellow, ca. 1.6 cm. Fl. Mar-Apr.

● Steep cliffs in gorges. NW Yunnan (Lijiang, Zhongdian).