厚衣香青 hou yi xiang qing

Herbs, perennial, throughout densely silvery gray tangled to cottony lanate. Rhizome thickish, woody; branches short, with dense withered leaves, rosette leaves terminal. Stems erect from curved base, 20-50 cm, somewhat thickish, herbaceous, piliferous, lower leaves dense and upper leaves lax. Rosette leaves spatulate or obovate-oblong, 3-7 × 0.6-1.4 cm, at first yellowish white or gray lanate, later gradually tangled to cottony-papery hairy, base attenuate and becoming a long stalk, apex obtuse or rounded. Lower leaves almost homomorphic with rosette leaves, caducous and lost by anthesis; middle leaves somewhat erect, spatulate or linear-oblong, 3-7 × 0.3-0.8 cm, base somewhat narrow, decurrent on stem and becoming a narrow wing, margin flat, apex acute; upper leaves linear, with long cusp; all leaves 1- or 3-veined, midvein exserted abaxially. Capitula considerably numerous, terminal on stems and branches, compound corymbiform; peduncle ca. 4 mm. Involucre campanulate, 4-5 × 3-4 mm; phyllaries 5-seriate; outer phyllaries oval, ca. 3 mm, base fulvous or deep brownish, lanate; middle ones white (lutescent when dry), oblong, ca. 4.5 × 1.5 mm, apex rounded; innermost ones linear-oblong, ca. 3 mm, with a claw ca. 2/3 of full length. Receptacle alveolate, with cusp. Center of predominantly female capitula with female florets and 1 or few male florets; predominantly male capitula with male florets only. Corolla 2-3 mm. Pappus ca. 3 mm, somewhat incrassate at tip of apex in male florets, serrulate. Achene ca. 0.9 mm, papillate. Fl. Jul-Sep, fr. Sep-Oct.

● Alpine or subalpine grassy slopes; 3200-3800 m. SW Sichuan (Muli).

No specimens of this species were seen by the second author.