兔儿风蟹甲草 tu er feng xie jia cao

Senecio ainsliaeiflorus Franchet, J. Bot. (Morot) 8: 361. 1894; Cacalia ainsliaeiflora (Franchet) Handel-Mazzetti; C. leucanthema (Dunn) Y. Ling; Koyamacalia leucanthema (Dunn) H. Robinson & Brettell; S. leucanthemus Dunn.

Rhizomes robust, with numerous fibrous roots. Stem solitary, erect, 60-100 cm tall, striate, glabrous below, yellow-brown puberulent in upper part and on branches of synflorescences. Lower leaves fallen by anthesis. Median leaves 5-8, long petiolate; petiole 5-10 cm, not winged; blade cordate-reniform or orbicular-reniform, 8-12(-20) × 8-12(-20) cm, abaxially shortly pubescent on veins, adaxially laxly adpressed shortly hairy or subglabrous, veins abaxially prominent, basally 5-veined, lateral upward furcately branched, base broadly cordate or subtruncate, margin often triangularly 5-7-lobed, irregularly serrate, apex acute. Upper leaves homomorphic to lower leaves but smaller, broadly ovate, 3-5-lobed, shortly petiolate. Capitula small, numerous, terminal or in upper leaf axils, racemose or compound racemose; synflorescence branches spreading; peduncles short or very short. Involucres cylindric, 6-8 × 1.5-2 mm; phyllaries 5, linear or linear-lanceolate, outside glabrous, margin scarious, apically obtuse or rounded, puberulent. Florets 5; corolla white, ca. 8 mm, with slender tube, and broadly tubular limb; lobes triangular-lanceolate. Anthers exserted from corolla, basally long caudate. Style branches excurved, apically truncate, papillose. Achenes cylindric, 3-4 mm, glabrous, ribbed. Pappus white or sordid white, 5-6 mm. Fl. Jul-Aug, fr. Sep-Oct.

● Forest margins, forest understories, thickets, grasslands on slopes; 1500-2600 m. Guizhou, W Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan.

Parasenecio ainsliaeiflorus differs from P. ambiguus by its peduncles, phyllaries, and florets 5 and its pappus white.