毛头牛蒡 mao tou niu bang

Lappa tomentosa (Miller) Lamarck.

Herbs to 2 m tall, biennial. Stem erect, branched, sparsely cobwebby; branches ascending. Leaves abaxially grayish white and densely felted, adaxially green and glabrous. Basal leaves petiolate; leaf blade heart-shaped, 25-50 × 10-30 cm, margin sparsely denticulate, teeth spinulose or mucronulate, apex acute to obtuse and mucronulate. Cauline leaves similar to basal leaves; uppermost cauline leaves sessile, ovate to ovate-elliptic. Capitula few to many, ± corymbose. Involucre ovoid, 1.5-2 cm in diam., ± densely cobwebby. Outer phyllaries subulate, triangular-subulate, or lanceolate, ca. 6 × 1 mm; middle phyllaries linear-subulate, 10-14 × ca. 2 mm, all with a hooked apex; inner phyllaries lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, apex acuminate. Corolla purplish red, 0.9-1.2 cm, tube 4.5-6 mm. Achene pale brown variegated with dark brown, narrowly obovoid, ca. 5.6 mm, multistriate. Pappus bristles pale brown, ca. 3 mm. Fl. and fr. Jul-Sep.

Grasslands; 1200-2100 m. Xinjiang (Tian Shan) [Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan; Europe].

The above description of Chinese plants does not match typical Arctium tomentosum, which, as mentioned in the key, is characterized by inner phyllaries with a dark purple, expanded, truncate apical portion. The identity of the plant in Xinjiang requires confirmation.