台岛风毛菊 tai dao feng mao ju

Herbs 5-15 cm tall, perennial. Stem solitary, slender, erect, simple, puberulent. Lower stem leaves petiolate; petiole 1.5-4 cm, sometimes winged; leaf blade oblong, ovate, or broadly ovate, 2-5 cm, pinnately lobed, abaxially whitish and lanate, adaxially green and puberulent, base truncate to cuneate and decurrent into petiole, margin denticulate, apex acuminate, acute, or obtuse; lateral lobes oblong, small. Upper stem leaves petiolate or sessile, gradually smaller upward on stem; leaf blade oblong, ovate, or narrowly ovate-elliptic, base cuneate to truncate, apex acute to acuminate. Capitula 2-4, clustered in a corymbiform synflorescence or sometimes solitary, shortly pedunculate. Involucre campanulate, 4-6 mm in diam. Phyllaries in ca. 4 rows; outer phyllaries narrowly ovate-elliptic, apex acuminate; middle phyllaries oblong, apex acute; inner phyllaries linear, apex acute. Corolla pink, 7-9 mm. Achene unknown by authors. Pappus dirty white; inner bristles ca. 8 mm.

● Alpine rocky areas or scree slopes; 2900-3500 m. Taiwan.

The misspelling "Saussurea kiraisanensis," established by Kitamura, has been widely used in the literature, including in Fl. Taiwan, ed. 2 (4: 1051. 1998).