Prenanthes sarmentosa Willdenow, Phytographia, 10. 1794; Launaea pinnatifida Cassini; Microrhynchus sarmentosus (Willdenow) Candolle.

Herbs, perennial, rosulate, creeping, glabrous. Taproot with trailing shoot-bearing lateral roots. Stems several, flagelliform, creeping, 20-90 cm, branched; nodes 4-15 cm apart, with adventitious roots and secondary leaf rosettes. Rosette leaves spatulate, 3-8 × 0.6-1 cm, sinuate-dentate to pinnately lobed, attenuate toward base, margin weakly to distinctly denticulate, apex acute, obtuse, or rounded. Capitulum solitary, terminating secondary leaf rosettes along stems, with usually 14-18 florets; peduncle wiry, 1-3 cm. Involucre cylindric, 1.1-1.4 cm. Phyllaries with distinct white scarious margin, apex acute to obtuse; outer phyllaries triangular-ovate to linear-lanceolate, longest ca. 1/2 as long as inner phyllaries; inner phyllaries 8. Achenes weakly dimorphic, brownish to blackish, columnar to cylindric, 3-5 mm; outer achenes with 5 thick soft ribs, smooth, apex pointed to subtruncate; inner achenes with 4 ribs. Pappus 4-8 mm, caducous with pappus disk. Fl. and fr. Jun-Sep. 2n = 18.

Open sandy coastal areas just above high tide mark. Guangdong, ?Guangxi, Hainan [India, Indonesia (Java), Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; E and SE Africa, W Australia].