假高山风毛菊 jia gao shan feng mao ju

Saussurea ambigua Krylov ex Sergievskaya.

Herbs (4-)10-20 cm tall, perennial. Stems solitary or few, erect, simple. Basal and lower stem leaves shortly petiolate; leaf blade ovate-elliptic, 5-20 × 1-3 cm, abaxially grayish green, gland-dotted, and arachnoid, adaxially pale green and subglabrous, base attenuate, margin sparsely denticulate, apex acuminate. Middle and upper stem leaves sessile, elliptic to linear, base not decurrent, margin entire. Capitula 4-12, in a clustered corymbiform synflorescence, shortly pedunculate. Involucre campanulate, (3-)5-8 mm in diam. Phyllaries in 3 or 4 rows, pale or violet-blackish; outer phyllaries ovate to ovate-oblong, pubescent, apex acuminate; inner phyllaries oblong, villous, apex subobtuse. Receptacle bristles ca. 4 mm. Corolla purple, 1.1-1.2 cm, tube 5-6 mm, limb 5-6 mm, lobes ca. 3.5 mm. Achene pale brown with dark brown spots, cylindric, 2-4 mm, glabrous. Pappus dirty white; outer bristles 1.5-4 mm; inner bristles 8-9 mm. Fl. and fr. Jul-Sep.

Stony and saline steppes, saline meadows; below 2900 m. N Xinjiang (Altay Shan) [SE Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia (Siberia)].