葶菊 ting ju

Saussurea tanguensis J. R. Drummond, Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew 1910: 78. 1910.

Herbs, perennial. Rhizome woody, stout, usually branched, 10-30 cm, caespitose with rosette of sterile leaves and flowering stems. Stems stout, 5-25 cm tall, many leaved or sparsely leaved, somewhat scapelike, brownish glandular. Leaves in lower parts subleathery, or ± fleshy, spatulate-oblong, 15-60(-120) × 5-10 mm, abaxially densely glandular pubescent or subglabrous, base attenuate, margin remotely denticulate, apex obtuse or obtuse-acuminate; cauline leaves ovate-lanceolate to oblong-spatulate, 30-60 × 5-12 mm, slightly fleshy, margin sparsely serrate, apex obtuse; upper cauline leaves like bracts, ovate-lanceolate, no more than 15 mm, subverticillate at top and ± closely embracing capitulum. Capitula solitary, terminal, widely hemispheric, (2-)3-3.5 cm in diam. Involucre 1.5-2 cm; phyllaries in 4 or 5 series, leaflike, linear-oblong or obovate-lanceolate, nearly as long as florets, margin covered with moderately sparse glandular hairs, apex obtuse or acute. Florets 100-200 in number, very slender. Male florets tubular-campanulate, 5-lobed, limb ca. 4.5 mm, lobes ca. 4 mm; stigma undivided; pappus of 1 series, ca. 5 mm; sterile achenes ca. 11 mm, glabrous. Female florets purplish, tubular, densely white hispid, limb ca. 7 mm, lobes ca. 0.2 mm; stigma 2-lobed, lobes exserted in corolla tube; pappus ca. 7.5 mm. Achenes 5-6 mm, densely sericeous. Pappus nitid purple, as long as corolla, persistent, of 2 series of ca. 50 scabrid subequal bristles. Fl. Jul-Aug, fr. Sep-Oct.

Gravelly ground near streams and glaciers; 4000-5100 m. SW Sichuan, Xizang [Bhutan, India (Sikkim)].