侏儒马先蒿 zhu rhu ma xian hao

Herbs annual, to 3 cm tall, not drying black. Main root enlarged-fusiform, to 2 mm in diam. Stems erect, unbranched, with 4 lines of hairs. Leaves in whorls of 4; petiole of basal leaves 5--7 mm, slender, membranous; leaf blade linear-oblong, ca. 1.5 cm, abaxially sparsely white pubescent, pinnatipartite to pinnatisect; segments 6--8 pairs, triangular-ovate, incised-double dentate, teeth white and callose. Inflorescences capitate, dense; bracts leaflike, villous. Calyx ovoid, ca. 4 mm, membranous, densely yellow villous along veins, relatively deeply cleft anteriorly; lobes 5, unequal, triangular, barely 1/5 as long as calyx tube, entire. Corolla purple, 9--10 mm; tube decurved near base, only slightly longer than calyx; galea slightly falcate, ca. 5.5 mm, apex mucronulate; lower lip ca. 4 X 6 mm, middle lobe rounded, smaller than lateral lobes. Filaments glabrous. Fl. Jul, fr. Aug.

* Grassy slopes, river banks; ca. 4000 m. NW Qinghai.