小球花蒿 xiao qiu hua hao

Artemisia moorcroftiana var. campanulata Pampanini; A. moorcroftiana f. tenuifolia Pampanini.

Subshrubs, 50-70 cm tall; rootstock horizontally creeping, ca. 1 cm thick, woody; stems several, with capitate branches, most parts sparsely ± arachnoid gray or yellowish pubescent or glabrescent. Lower and middle stem leaves: petiole 1-3 cm; leaf blade oblong, ovate, or elliptic, 5-10 × 2-3(-4.5) cm, abaxially densely gray or yellowish tomentose, adaxially sparsely tomentose, 2- or 3-pinnatisect or partite; segments (4 or)5 or 6 pairs, ovate or elliptic-ovate; lobules lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, margin few serrate, apex acuminate; rachis narrowly winged. Uppermost leaves pinnatipartite; leaflike bracts 3-5-partite or entire. Synflorescence a narrowly cylindric interrupted, racemelike panicle, 15-20 × 1.5-2.5 cm; branches 2-3 cm, erect to somewhat appressed spicate. Capitula sessile. Involucre globose or hemispheric, 4-6 mm in diam.; outer phyllaries purplish, sparsely pubescent, margin not hyaline scarious, apex acute. Receptacle ± convex, glabrous. Florets purplish. Marginal female florets 15-20; corolla linear-tubular, glandular, 2-toothed. Disk florets bisexual 30-35; corolla clavate-tubular, base glandular, apex very sparsely hairy. Achene brown, ± cylindric, ca. 1.75 mm. Fl. and fr. Jul-Oct. 2n = 18.

Slopes, terraces, valleys, rocky hills, subalpine steppes, subalpine meadows; 2000-5300 m. Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, W Sichuan, Xizang, NW Yunnan [Bhutan, India, N Pakistan].