错那垂头菊 cuo na chui tou ju

Plants bluish grayish green. Stem solitary, erect, 10-15 cm tall, 1-1.5 mm in diam. at base, proximally glabrous, distalmost part white and blackish gray pilose. Basal leaves petiolate; petiole 1-3 cm, glabrous, base sheathed; leaf blade abaxially grayish green, adaxially green, oblong or oblanceolate, 1.5-5 × 0.6-1.1 cm, glabrous, pinnate-parallel veined, margin revolute, denticulate, apex acute. Middle to distal stem leaves 3 or 4, oblong to linear, to 2.5 cm, base semiamplexicaul. Capitulum solitary, nodding. Involucre purplish red, hemispheric, 8-11 mm × to 2.5 cm, outside glabrous, base black and white pilose; phyllaries 10-12, in 2 rows, lanceolate or oblong, 2.5-3.5 mm wide, white ciliate, apex acute; inner phyllaries brown membranous at margin. Ray florets yellow; lamina oblong or oblanceolate, 1.2-1.6 cm × 3-4 mm, with 6 or 7 brown veins, apex subtruncate, 3-dentate; tube ca. 3 mm. Tubular florets numerous, yellow, ca. 6 mm; tube ca. 2 mm. Achenes (immature) 2-3 mm. Pappus white, as long as tubular corolla. Fl. Jul-Aug.

● Alpine meadows, mountain summits; 4300-4600 m. SE Xizang.