Cryptothladia chinensis (Y. Y. Pai) M. J. Cannon; Morina lorifolia C. Y. Cheng & H. B. Chen.

Roots robust, usually unbranched. Caudexes short, simple or branched, covered with old, nearly complete leaf bases. Fertile stems 15-70 cm tall, glabrous and purple below, purplish and white villous above. Leaves on sterile stems 6-8, linear-lanceolate, 10-25 × 1-2 cm, glabrous, midvein marked, base decurrent and amplexicaul, apex acuminate, margin irregularly and shallowly lobed; lobes subtriangular, with 3-9 rigid spines. Cauline leaves in 2 or 3 whorls of 4-6 leaves, similar to those on sterile stems but shorter, 5-15 cm, gradually smaller upward, margins of lobes spinose. Inflorescence of 6-9 whorls of up to 20 flowers each, compact at anthesis but separated in fruit; involucral bracts 4, leaflike, narrowly ovate, 2.5-3.5 cm, margins densely spiny, apex acuminate; involucels hidden in involucral bracts, campanulate, 1-1.4 cm, sparsely villous outside, apex truncate, margin with 10 unequal spines to 6 mm. Calyx exserted ca. 3 mm above involucel, 2-lipped, 6-10 mm, each lip 2-lobed; lobes rounded, veins prominent, outside glabrous, inside lanate, base barbate. Corolla pale green, shorter than calyx, 6-7 mm; limb 2-lipped, upper lip 2-lobed, lower lip 3-lobed, sparsely villous. Stamens adnate to upper part of corolla tube; staminodes inserted at base of corolla tube; anthers included. Style slightly longer than stamens; stigma capitate. Achenes brown, oblong, 2-3 mm, rugose, apex obliquely truncate, with persistent calyx, hidden in involucels. Fl. Jul-Aug, fr. Sep.

● Alpine meadows with shrubs; 2800-4300 m. SE Gansu, Nei Mongol (Helan Shan), Qinghai, NW Sichuan, Xizang (Qamdo).