白花猫儿菊 bai hua mao er ju

Hypochaeris brasiliensis (Lessing) Bentham & J. D. Hooker ex Grisebach var. albiflora Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 3(3): 159. 1898; H. microcephala (Schultz Bipontinus) Cabrera var. albiflora (Kuntze) Cabrera.

Herbs 20-50 cm tall, perennial, rosulate, with a taproot. Stem erect, apically sparsely branched, glabrous or sparsely hirsute, leafy. Rosette leaves narrowly elliptic to oblanceolate, 4-10 × 1-5 cm, undivided with sinuate-dentate margin to pinnatisect with entire margin, both surfaces glabrous to sparsely villous, base narrow, apex obtuse to acute; lateral and terminal lobes linear-lanceolate if present. Stem leaves few, smaller, pinnatisect with few lobes or undivided and linear-lanceolate, otherwise similar to rosette leaves. Synflorescence corymbiform, with few to several capitula. Capitula with usually 20-40 florets; peduncle long. Involucre cylindric to narrowly campanulate, 0.8-1.2 × 0.3-0.4 cm at anthesis, 1.5-1.8 cm in fruit. Phyllaries glabrous; outer phyllaries lanceolate; inner phyllaries linear-lanceolate. Florets white, slightly longer than involucre. Achene brown; body fusiform, ca. 4 mm, ribbed and muricate; beak capillaceous, 4-5 mm. Pappus 7-8 mm, all bristles plumose. Fl and fr. Apr-May. 2n = 8.

Grassy areas of parks and urban areas, roadsides; near sea level to 200 m. Naturalized in N Taiwan [native to SE South America].

Hypochaeris albiflora has also been introduced to S Africa, E Australia, and SE North America.

This species was first recorded in 2005 and has spread since (M. J. Jung et al., Taiwania 54: 391-398. 2009, as Hypochaeris microcephala var. albiflora). No material has been seen from Taiwan by the present authors. The description is based on the publication by the above authors and supplemented with material from outside the area.