硕首垂头菊 shuo shou chui tou ju

Stem solitary, erect, 20-30 cm tall, ca. 4 mm in diam. at base, distally branched in synflorescence, densely white puberulent. Basal leaves petiolate; petiole purplish red, 3.5-8.5 cm, to 1.6 cm wide, broadly winged, base sheathed; leaf blade obovate, oblong, or elliptic, 6-9 × 3-5 cm, both surfaces white pilose or adaxially glabrescent, pinnately veined, base broadly cuneate, attenuate into a winged petiole, margin entire or remotely denticulate, apex rounded or obtuse. Middle to distal stem leaves smaller, lanceolate to linear, apex acuminate. Capitula 1-4, in corymbose raceme or solitary, nodding; peduncles 9-17 cm. Involucre hemispheric, 1.5-2 × 3-4 cm, outside densely white puberulent and black pilose; phyllaries 14-24, in 2 rows, 3-5 mm wide, apex acuminate, ciliate; outer phyllaries narrowly lanceolate; inner phyllaries lanceolate, margin brown membranous. Ray florets yellow; lamina narrowly lanceolate, 2-4 cm × 4-8 mm, apex acute, 3-dentate; tube ca. 5 mm. Tubular florets numerous, dark yellow, 6-8 mm; tube ca. 2 mm; limb cylindric. Achenes brown, cylindric, ca. 6 mm, ribbed. Pappus white, as long as tubular corolla. Fl. and fr. Jul-Aug.

● Gravelly areas on mountains; 4800-5000 m. NW Sichuan (Sêrtar), SE Xizang.