Senecio graciliflorus var. pleopterus (Diels) Handel-Mazzetti; S. mairei H. Léveillé; S. pleopterus Diels.

Herbs, perennial, rhizomatous. Stem solitary, erect, 50-120 cm tall, branching in upper part, sparsely pubescent when young, glabrescent. Leaves petiolate, radical and lower stem leaves withered by anthesis; median stem leaf petiole 2-4.5 cm, slender, basally somewhat dilated but not auriculate; blade ovate or ovate-oblong, 10-25 × 6-12 cm, pinnatipartite into an oblong-lanceolate, acuminate or acuminate-caudate terminal lobe and 8-10 oblong-lanceolate, long acuminate, coarsely serrate lateral lobes, papery, sparsely shortly adpressed pubescent adaxially and especially on main veins abaxially. Upper leaves smaller, less deeply divided and with fewer lateral lobes. Capitula obscurely radiate, numerous, arranged in terminal and upper axillary compound corymbs; peduncles 3-5 mm, slender, linear-bracteolate, densely fulvous puberulent. Involucres narrowly cylindric, 8-9 × 1.5-2 mm, calyculate; bracts of calyculus 4 or 5, linear-subulate, 2-3 mm, puberulent; phyllaries 5, linear, ca. 8 × 1 mm, herbaceous, sparsely minutely puberulent, obscurely 3-veined, margin narrowly scarious, apically obtuse and puberulent. Ray florets 1 or 2; corolla yellow, filiform, apically truncate or with a minute lamina much shorter than style branches. Disk florets 3; corolla yellow, ca. 8 mm, with ca. 3.5 mm tube and funnelform limb; lobes ovate-triangular, ca. 1 mm, apically acute, papillose. Anthers ca. 2.2 mm, basally obtuse-auriculate or sagittate, appendages ovate-lanceolate; antheropodia rather broad, basally slightly dilated. Style branches ca. 1.8 mm. Achenes cylindric, ca. 2.5 mm, glabrous. Pappus white, 4-5 mm. Fl. May-Oct. 2n = 40.

Open places in forests, forest margins, grassy slopes, streamsides; 2000-4100 m. Guizhou, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [India (Sikkim), Kashmir, W Malaysia].