鹿角草属 lu jiao cao shu

Herbs, perennial, glabrous, with a thick caudex. Stems erect, branched; leaves few. Radical leaves crowded, long petiolate, pinnately parted; cauline leaves alternate. Capitula small, solitary or few in corymbs, heterogamous; phyllaries 1-4-seriate, outer phyllaries and paleae oblong, slightly connate, somewhat inflated at base, inner palea narrowed, flat. Ray florets 1-seriate, female, fertile; corollas spreading, 3-lobed. Disk florets tubular, bisexual; corollas 4-lobed; anthers obtuse at base. Achenes glabrous, flattened dorsally, linear, truncate; pappus of 2 retrorsely scabrid awns.

Eleven species: N Africa, tropical Asia to S Australia and the Pacific islands; one species in China.

Lower Taxon

• Glossocardia bidens (Retzius) Veldkamp