42. Synotis setchuenensis (Franchet) C. Jeffrey & Y. L. Chen, Kew Bull. 39: 336. 1984.
四川合耳菊 si chuan he er ju
Senecio setchuenensis Franchet, Bull. Annuel Soc. Philom. Paris, sér. 8, 3: 145. 1891.
Herbs, rhizomatous. Rhizomes thick, woody, creeping. Stem usually solitary, erect, 45-60 cm tall, sparsely arachnoid, not branched below synflorescence, leafless in lower part at anthesis. Leaves subpetiolate or sessile; petiole 3-5 mm, narrowly winged; blade adaxially green, lanceolate or narrowly elliptic, 7-15 × 1.5-3 cm, papery, abaxially densely and except for midvein persistently white tomentose, adaxially sparsely arachnoid, scattered puberulent and glabrescent, pinnately veined, lateral veins 10-14, arcuate-ascending, base attenuate, not auriculate, margin remotely and minutely mucronulate-denticulate, apex shortly acuminate. Upper leaves smaller; uppermost leaves linear-lanceolate to linear, bractiform. Capitula discoid, numerous (15-17) in rather dense terminal compound corymbs; peduncles 5-15 mm, apex acute. Involucres narrowly campanulate, 5-6 × ca. 3 mm, calyculate; bracts of calyculus 2-4, linear, equaling phyllaries; phyllaries 8, oblong, 1.5-2 mm wide, subleathery and somewhat carinate, white arachnoid-tomentose, margin narrowly scarious, apically acute and ciliate. Ray florets absent. Disk florets 8 or 9; corolla yellow, 8-9 mm, with ca. 3.2 mm tube and funnelform limb; lobes oblong-lanceolate, ca. 2 mm, apically acute. Anthers ca. 3.5 mm; anther tails ca. 0.75 × as long as antheropodia; appendages ovate-lanceolate; antheropodia slightly dilated at base. Style branches ca. 1.5 mm, fringed with short papillae, terminal tuft short. Achenes 3-3.5 mm, glabrous. Pappus dirty white or pale straw-colored, 7-8 mm. Fl. Aug-Sep.
● Thickets, streamsides, roadsides; 2500-3200 m. W Sichuan (Kangding).
Synotis setchuenensis is characterized by its phyllaries subleathery and carinate and leaves densely white tomentose abaxially. It superficially resembles Senecio densiserratus, which differs by having densely serrate leaf margins and anthers not caudate.