心叶假还阳参 xin ye jia huan yang shen

Lactuca humifusa Dunn, J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 35: 512. 1903; Crepis stolonifera H. Léveillé; Ixeris humifusa (Dunn) Stebbins; I. stebbinsiana Handel-Mazzetti; Paraixeris humifusa (Dunn) C. Shih.

Herbs 15-40 cm tall, perennial, with long creeping runners sometimes covering ground. Basal leaves present at anthesis, with an unwinged sparsely hairy petiole to 13 cm; leaf blade obovoid, elliptic, broadly ovoid, or semiorbicular, 5-8 × 4-9 cm, abaxially sparsely hairy, lyrately pinnatisect or pinnatipartite, with 1 or 2(or more?) pairs of lateral lobes and a much larger terminal lobe or margin coarsely sinuate-dentate, base cordate to truncate, apex acute. Middle and upper stem leaves and leaves on runners with unwinged petiole usually as long as blade or longer; leaf blade broadly ovate, subtriangular, or semiorbicular, margin coarsely sinuate-dentate, otherwise similar to basal leaves. Uppermost stem leaves petiolate; leaf blade lanceolate to polygonal, not divided, base truncate to broadly cuneate. Synflorescence laxly corymbiform with 2-7 capitula. Capitula with 10-14 florets; peduncle capillaceous, 1-5 cm. Involucre cylindric, 8.5-11 mm. Phyllaries abaxially glabrous; outer phyllaries few, ovate to narrowly ovate, longest 1.5-2 mm, apex acute to obtuse; inner phyllaries 8, apex obtuse. Anther tube and style dark. Achene brown, ellipsoid, ca. 3.5 mm, subcompressed, with ca. 10 ribs, apex attenuate into a thick ca. 0.5 mm beak. Pappus white, ca. 4 mm. Fl. and fr. Aug-Sep.

● Cliffs in shaded and damp valleys; 900-2500 m. E Chongqing (Wushan), W Hubei (Badong, Shennongjia), ?Sichuan, NE Yunnan.

Crepidiastrum humifusum is apparently rare, of scattered distribution, and still little known. Its placement in Crepidiastrum should be regarded as tentative and needs confirmation by more detailed investigations.