雪白蒲公英 xue bai pu gong ying

Herbs 6-13 cm tall. Petiole usually pinkish, long, narrow, unwinged, base sparsely arachnoid; leaf blade dull green, linear, 6-8(-11) × 0.4-0.8(-1) cm, ± glabrous, margin usually shortly remotely lobed or sometimes subentire; lateral lobes 3 or 4 pairs, linear, to 4 mm, patent to bent upward, margin entire; interlobes usually 5-8(-10) × 1(-2) mm, margin entire; terminal lobe linear to linear-lingulate, (4-)6-10(-20) mm, margin entire. Scapes greenish, equaling or slightly overtopping leaves, glabrous or rarely with a few arachnoid hairs. Capitulum 1.5-2 cm wide. Involucre 6-7 mm wide, base ± rounded. Outer phyllaries 12-14, deep green but often suffused pinkish apically, imbricate, outermost ones ovate and 3-4.2 × 2.2-2.5 mm, middle ones ovate-lanceolate, 5-5.5 × 2-2.3 mm, and 1/3-1/2 as long as inner ones, appressed, with a ± distinct membranous to ± whitish (0.2-)0.3-0.4 mm wide border, margin entire or denticulate and usually sparsely ciliate near apex, apex flat; inner phyllaries 9-10 mm, apex flat. Ligules inside pure white; outer ligules almost flat, outside striped grayish pink; inner ligules with white apical teeth. Stigmas green. Anthers without pollen. Achene light grayish straw-colored, 3.8-4.1 × 0.9-1 mm; body subdensely coarsely spinulose above, ± gradually narrowing into a relatively thick cylindric 1-1.1 mm cone; beak 5-6 mm, thin. Pappus yellowish white, 4.5-5 mm. Fl. spring to early summer. Agamosperm. 2n = 32.

Wet saline meadows, along rivers; ca. 1200 m. NW Xinjiang [Russia (Altai)].