Ainsliaea asarifolia Hayata; A. cordifolia Franchet & Savatier var. integrifolia Maximowicz; A. fragrans var. integrifolia (Maximowicz) Kitamura; A. integrifolia (Maximowicz) Makino; A. ningpoensis Matsuda; A. rubrifolia Franchet.

Herbs, perennial, 25-60 cm tall. Leaves in basal rosette or above stem base; petiole 1.5-10(-14) cm, wingless, strigose; leaf blade ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 2-11 × 1.5-5 cm, subleathery, palmate-pinnate veined, abaxially commonly purple, red villous, especially along veins, adaxially glabrous or sparsely pilose, base cordate, margin entire or sparsely callose-denticulate, ciliate, apex obtuse or mucronate extended from midvein. Capitula subsessile or shortly pedunculate, arranged in spikes (rarely panicles), 3-flowered; involucre cylindric, 3-3.5 mm in diam.; phyllaries ca. 5-seriate, papery, abaxially glabrous, outer phyllaries ovate, 1.8-2 mm, inner narrowly elliptic, ca. 1.1 cm. Florets bisexual, chasmogamous and cleistogamous in same plant (or at different seasons). Chasmogamous florets white, corollas tubular, ca. 1 cm, deeply 5-lobed, lobes linear, unequal, anther appendages obtuse. Achenes terete or subfusiform, ca. 4 mm, ribbed, densely villous throughout or on upper part; pappus light brownish, ca. 7 mm. Cleistogamous floret corollas closed, tubular, minutely 5-lobed, ca. 8 mm, hidden in pappus. Achenes ca. 5 mm; pappus ca. 12 mm. Fl. Sep-Dec.

Ainsliaea asarifolia, A. integrifolia, A. ningpoensis, and A. rubrifolia are treated here as synonyms of A. fragrans because there is no diagnostic character to separate them as distinct taxa. All of these have petiolate leaves that are ovate to oblong, cordate at the base, with margins remotely callose-denticulate and lanuginous abaxially, especially on the veins. In addition, the differential character mentioned in the protologue of A. rubrifolia, i.e., leaves reddish green on the abaxial surface, is a variable feature throughout the range of A. fragrans.

Scrub, roadsides, grassy areas by stream banks; near sea level to 1300 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Japan].