薄鳞菊 bao lin ju

Basionym: Chartolepis intermedia Boissier, Diagn. Pl. Orient., ser. 2, 3: 64. 1856; Centaurea chartolepis Greuter.

Herbs 40-100 cm tall, perennial. Stem erect, winged, sparingly branched. Leaves shortly strigose and gland-dotted, margin entire or inconspicuously serrulate. Basal leaves petiolate; petiole 4-20 cm; leaf blade elliptic to elliptic-oblanceolate, 6-10 × 2-6 cm. Lower stem leaves similar to basal leaves, base decurrent. Middle and upper stem leaves narrowly elliptic, elliptic-lanceolate, or linear-elliptic, decreasing in size upward, base long decurrent. Capitula few to several, in a laxly racemose-corymbose synflorescence. Involucre narrowly ellipsoid to ovoid, 1.2-1.8 cm in diam. Phyllaries in 6 or 7 rows, with an apical membranous appendage; outer and middle phyllaries ovate, 4-10 × 2.5-5 mm; appendage of outer and middle phyllaries ovate to lanceolate, ca. 5 mm wide, white hyaline except for a pale brown triangular area at base; inner phyllaries ovate-lanceolate, much longer than others. Corolla yellow, ca. 2.7 cm; corolla of outer florets 4- or 5-cleft, as long as or slightly shorter than inner ones. Achene ellipsoid, 5-6 mm, sparsely pilose. Outer pappus elements in many rows, bristlelike, to 1 cm, shortly plumose; inner pappus elements scalelike, oblong, very short. Fl. and fr. Jun-Aug.

Lakesides, thickets; ca. 800 m. Xinjiang (Junggar Pendi) [Kazakhstan, Russia; Europe].