欧亚矢车菊 ou ya shi che ju

Centaurea ruthenica Lamarck, Encycl. 1: 663. 1785; C. modestii Fedorov; Centaurium ruthenicum (Lamarck) Cassini.

Herbs 40-110 cm tall. Stem usually solitary, erect, apically few branched. Leaves green. Basal and lower stem leaves petiolate; petiole 4-9 cm, lanate; leaf blade oblanceolate in outline, pinnatisect to pinnate, ca. 18 × 8 cm; lateral segments 8-14 pairs. Middle and upper stem leaves sessile, similar in shape and same in division to basal and lower stem leaves, decreasing in size upward; lateral segments 4-10 pairs, elliptic to linear; basal lateral segments much diminished. Capitula few to several, rarely 1. Involucre ovoid, 1.8-2.5 cm in diam. Phyllaries in 4-6 rows, apex obtuse to rounded; middle phyllaries elliptic to ovate-elliptic, 9-10 × ca. 5 mm, unappendaged, margin ca. 0.2 mm wide and hyaline; inner phyllaries elliptic-lanceolate to lanceolate, 14-18 × 3-5 mm, apical appendage brownish and scarious. Achene narrowly ellipsoid, ca. 7 mm, apically rugulose. Outer pappus elements ca. 4 mm; inner pappus elements 0.8-3.5 mm. Fl. and fr. Jul-Sep. 2n = 30.

Mountain slopes, meadows; 1200-1900 m. N Xinjiang [Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan; SW Asia, Europe].