灰绿垂头菊 hui lü chui tou ju

Plants grayish green, mealy. Stem solitary, erect, 12-40 cm tall, ca. 3 mm in diam. at base, proximally glabrous, distally white puberulent. Basal leaves petiolate; petiole 3-7 cm, slender, glabrous, base sheathed; leaf blade oblong or elliptic, 2.5-14 × 1.4-7.3 cm, glabrous, pinnately veined, abaxially prominent, base cuneate or subtruncate, margin entire, apex rounded or acute. Stem leaves 4-6, sessile, oblong to lanceolate, base amplexicaul, margin entire, apex acute or acuminate. Capitulum solitary, nodding. Involucre hemispheric, 1-1.2 × 1.5-2 cm, outside glabrous, grayish green; phyllaries 12-14, in 2 rows, lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, 3-5 mm wide, white ciliate, apex acute; inner phyllaries membranous at margin. Ray florets yellow; lamina lanceolate, 1.5-2 cm × 3-4 mm, apex acuminate; tube ca. 1 mm. Tubular florets numerous, yellow, ca. 6 mm; tube ca. 1 mm. Achenes dark brown, oblong, ca. 5 mm. Pappus white, as long as tubular corolla. Fl. and fr. Jul-Oct.

● Grassy slopes, alpine meadows; 3400-4000 m. NW Yunnan.