橙黄鸦葱 cheng huang ya cong

Herbs 25-75 cm tall, perennial, with a taproot. Caudex woody, sometimes branched, with sparse leaf sheath residues. Stems solitary or few, erect, sparsely branched apically, glabrous or weakly floccose with branched hairs, leafy. Basal leaves linear to linear-lanceolate, usually 5-20 × 0.4-0.8 cm, margin flat, apex acuminate. Stem leaves similar to basal leaves but smaller. Synflorescence very loosely corymbiform, with few capitula. Involucre cylindric, ca. 1.5 × 0.5 cm at anthesis, to 3-3.5 cm in fruit. Phyllaries arachnoid branched hairy. Florets dark orange. Achene cylindric, ca. 1.5 cm, with smooth ribs, glabrous. Pappus dirty white, ca. 2 cm.

Meadows on mountain slopes; ca. 1700 m. Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan].

Scorzonera transiliensis is closely related to S. iliensis and said to be mainly distinguished by its dark orange florets (Lipschitz, Fl. URSS 29: 84. 1964). It is endemic to the Zailiyskiy and Kungey Alatau (SE Kazakhstan, N Kyrgyzstan) and the Ketmen range of the Tien Shan (SE Kazakhstan) and Tian Shan (NW China). It has been listed for Xinjiang by C. H. An (Fl. Xinjiang. 5: 395. 1999), and the above description is based on that work and the original description. The status of this taxon requires further studies.