竹溪风毛菊 zhu xi feng mao ju

Herbs 30-50 cm tall, perennial. Rhizome stout, with numerous fibrous roots. Stems solitary or 3-5, erect, apically branched. Basal and lower stem leaves sessile, narrowly ovate-elliptic, 5-15 × 1-2 cm, abaxially light green and puberulent, adaxially green and puberulent, base attenuate, margin sparsely dentate or incised, apex acuminate and mucronate. Middle stem leaves narrowly ovate-elliptic, margin usually entire or sometimes minutely denticulate. Upper stem leaves smaller upward on stem, margin entire. Capitula numerous, in a lax corymbiform synflorescence, shortly pedunculate. Involucre campanulate, 8-10 mm in diam. Phyllaries in ca. 5 rows; outer phyllaries green, narrowly ovate-oblong, 4-5 × ca. 1 mm, sparsely arachnoid, apex acute; inner phyllaries light green, narrowly ovate-elliptic, 10-12 × 1-1.5 mm, glabrous, apex acuminate. Receptacle bristles filiform, 5-6 mm. Corolla purplish red, ca. 1.4 cm, tube ca. 7 mm, limb ca. 7 mm. Achene ellipsoid, ca. 3 mm. Pappus bristles in 1 row, grayish white, ca. 1 cm, plumose. Fl. Aug.

● Rock crevices, sandy places along streams; ca. 900 m. Hubei (Zhuxi).