巧家橐吾 qiao jia tuo wu

Stem erect, to 70 cm tall, ca. 3 mm in diam. at base, longitudinally angulate. Basal leaves petiolate; petiole 12-20 cm, glabrous, base sheathed; leaf blade abaxially pale green, adaxially green, cordate-orbicular, 7-24 × 8-25 cm, papery, abaxially glabrous, adaxially with sparse white glandular hairs, pinnately dissected. Stem leaves 3 or 4; petiole 5-23 cm, base enlarged, sheathing; upper leaves with smaller blades and shorter petioles. Synflorescence racemose, to 25 cm, densely covered with rust-colored glandular hairs; peduncles 0.3-1.2(-8) cm. Capitula 7-15; supplementary bracts subulate. Involucre green, turbinate, 8-10 mm in diam.; phyllaries 8 or 9, in 2 rows, equal in length, broadly oblong, ca. 1 cm × 2-3 mm, apex acute. Ray florets yellow, 4 or 5; lamina lanceolate, 16-18 × ca. 3 mm, apex acute and dentate; tube ca. 4 mm. Tubular florets 16-18; tube ca. 5 mm; limb campanulate, ca. 5 mm; lobes lanceolate, ca. 2 × 0.3 mm. Style ca. 12 mm; stigma brownish yellow. Achenes cylindric, ca. 5 × 0.6 mm, longitudinally ribbed, apex truncate. Pappus brown, 4-5 mm, as long as or shorter than tube of tubular corolla. Fl. Jul-early Aug.

● Wet grassy slopes along forest margins, alpine meadows along streams; 2700-3400 m. NE Yunnan (Dongchuan, Qiaojia).

The population size is very small at two known localities, so Ligularia qiaojiaensis should be categorized as "endangered" (Dong & Chen, Nordic J. Bot. 28: 683. 2010).

One of us (Illarionova) believes that Ligularia qiaojiaensis is an occasional hybrid of L. przewalskii and some species from the same section.