Gymnanthemum solanifolium (Bentham) H. Robinson; Strobocalyx solanifolius (Bentham) Schultz Bipontinus; Vernonia fortunei Schultz Bipontinus.

Erect shrubs or trees, 8-12 m tall. Branches sometimes scandent, terete, fulvous or yellowish tomentose. Petiole 10-25 mm, densely tomentose; leaf blade ovate-oblong, 6-16 × 4-9 cm, abaxially scabrid, sparsely adpressed hispidulous, ± glabrescent, glandular, adaxially densely yellowish tomentose, lateral veins 7-9-paired, veinlets rather parallel and reticulate, base ± oblique, margin entire, shallowly repand, or laxly obtusely dentate, apex sometimes truncate. Synflorescences terminal, panicles flat-topped, up to 20 cm wide, leafy. Capitula many, small, 5-6 mm in diam.; peduncles 4-6 mm, densely tomentose. Involucre hemispheric, 4-5 mm wide; phyllaries 4- or 5-seriate, ovate, elliptic, or oblong, 2-6 mm, yellowish tomentose, apex obtuse. Receptacle flat, areolate. Florets ca. 10; corolla pink or purplish, fragrant, tubular, ca. 6 mm, with slender tube and narrowly campanulate limb; lobes linear-lanceolate, glandular, apically white puberulent. Achenes rather compressed, 2-2.5 mm, 4- or 5-angled, glabrous. Pappus 2-seriate, yellowish; outer setae very short; inner setae scabridulous.

Vernonia solanifolia is used medicinally for treating carbuncle of the abdomen, intestinal pains, and eruptive diseases.

Open forests in valleys, climbing on trees; 500-1000 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan [Cambodia, India, Laos, Myanmar, N Thailand, Vietnam].