秀苞败酱 xiu bao bai jiang

Herbs, perennial, 8-30 cm tall. Rhizomes slender. Stems solitary, simple or sometimes branched, leafless or with 1 pair of leaves, sparsely villous. Basal leaves rosulate; petiole 1-2 cm, base sheathing; blade oblong-oblanceolate or ovate-elliptic, 3-10 × 2-3 cm, slightly glaucous abaxially, glabrous or sparsely villous adaxially, pinnatifid; segments 3-5-pairs, ovate or oblong-lanceolate, base decurrent, margin coarsely serrate, apex acute; terminal lobe larger. Cauline leaves ovate or ovate-oblong to oblong, 3-8 × 1.5-2.5 cm, pinnatifid. Inflorescence corymbiform, 3-10 cm in diam. at anthesis; lateral branches in ca. 3 pairs; peduncles sparsely hirsute; involucral bracts elliptic, oblong, or ovate-oblong to lanceolate, 2-6 × ca. 2 cm, serrate, pinnatilobate or pinnatifid, reduced apically; bracts ovate-oblong to obovate, 2.5-3 × 1.4-1.7 mm, apex usually unequally 2-lobed. Calyx lobes ovate-lanceolate, ovate, obovate, or oblanceolate, 0.2-1.6 mm, usually 1 or 2 prominently enlarged in fruit. Corolla yellow, campanulate, 5.5-6 mm; tube ca. 3 mm, 2.6-2.8 mm in diam. distally; lobes elliptic or obovate to ovate, ca. 2.5 × 2.5-3 mm. Stamens 4, exserted; longer filaments ca. 7.5 mm, shorter filaments ca. 6.5 mm; anthers oblong, 1.2-1.4 mm. Achenes ellipsoid or oblong, 3-4 × 2-3 mm; bracteoles irregularly obliquely ovate or obliquely obovate, occasionally 10-12 × 8-13 mm, 3(-5)-veined, apex shallowly 3-lobed, sometimes only one lateral side with 2 lobes. Fl. late Jul-Sep, fr. Sep-Oct.

● Stony, grassy, and/or sandy slopes, thickets; 3100-4100 m. SE Xizang (Bomi, Mêdog, Zayü), NW Yunnan (Gongshan).