菊状风毛菊 ju zhuang feng mao ju

Herbs 30-60 cm tall, perennial. Rootstock stout, fibrously split. Stem solitary, 2-3 mm in diam., erect, apically branched, densely covered at base with fibrous remains of petioles. Basal and lower stem leaves petiolate; petiole 4-10 cm; leaf blade ovate to elliptic, 8-12 × 2-5 cm, bipinnately divided, abaxially white, with conspicuous veins, arachnoid tomentose, and gland-dotted, adaxially green, scabrous, sparsely strigose, and gland-dotted; primary segments 8-10 pairs, elliptic, apex obtuse and mucronate; secondary lobes 1-3 pairs, obliquely triangular-ovate. Upper stem leaves shortly petiolate to sessile, pinnatisect to pinnately lobed; lateral segments 4-6 pairs. Capitula few, in a corymbiform synflorescence, long pedunculate. Involucre campanulate, 6-10 mm in diam. Phyllaries in 5 or 6 rows, arachnoid, gland-dotted; outer phyllaries ovate, 2-3 × 1-2 mm, apex acuminate; middle phyllaries narrowly elliptic, 3-10 × 1-2 mm, apex acute; inner phyllaries narrowly elliptic-linear, 10-12 × 1-1.5 mm, apex acute. Receptacle bristles subulate, 2-3 mm. Corolla purple, 1-1.1 cm, gland-dotted, tube 4-5 mm, limb 6-7 mm, lobes 3.5-4 mm. Achene blackish brown, 2.5-3 mm. Pappus straw-colored; outer bristles 2-3 mm; inner bristles 9-10 mm. Fl. and fr. Aug-Oct.

● Open stony meadows, thickets; ca. 4000 m. NW Yunnan (Lijiang).

Saussurea chrysanthemoides is apparently only known from the type collection and is clearly different from S. compta in leaf division and shape and size of the capitula.