分枝麻花头 fen zhi ma hua tou

Centaurea cardunculus Pallas, Reise Russ. Reich. 1: 500. 1771; Serratula cardunculus (Pallas) Schischkin; S. nitida Fischer ex Sprengel.

Herbs 20-70 cm tall. Rhizomes short. Stems erect, unbranched or apically branched, glabrous or subglabrous, base clothed with remains of petioles. Leaves glabrous or with sparse hairs, glaucous. Basal leaves shortly to long petiolate; leaf blade oblong-elliptic, elliptic, or lanceolate, 5-10 × 0.8-2 cm, base cuneate-attenuate, margin entire or toothed, apex obtuse to acute. Stem leaves several, sessile, lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, smaller than basal ones, margin entire, toothed, or pinnatilobed. Upper stem leaves linear, smaller than others, margin entire. Capitula (1 or)2-7(-9). Involucre campanulate, 0.8-1.5 cm in diam., glabrous. Phyllaries imbricate, in 5 or 6 rows; outer and middle phyllaries ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 1.7-2.5 mm wide. Corolla purple or rarely white, 1.5-1.7 cm. Achene dark brown to black, oblong, 3.5-5 mm. Pappus whitish, 7-9 mm. Fl. and fr. Jun-Jul.

Meadows; 500-1500 m. Nei Mongol (Xilin Gol Meng), Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia; Europe].