掌叶垂头菊 zhang ye chui tou ju

Cremanthodium palmatum var. benthamii R. D. Good; Senecio benthamianus Franchet.

Stem solitary, erect, to 25 cm tall, proximally glabrous, distally purplish brown pilose. Basal leaves long petiolate, reniform, 1.3-2.5 cm in diam., palmately veined, palmatipartite; lobes 6-12, oblong, glabrous or abaxially sparsely purplish red pilose, very rarely purplish brown pilose on both surfaces, apex mucronate. Middle to distal stem leaves petiolate or sessile, reniform to linear. Capitulum solitary, nodding. Involucre hemispheric, 3.8-6.3 cm in diam., outside glabrous, base blackish purple pilose; phyllaries in 2 rows, oblong or lanceolate, ca. 1.5 cm, margin membranous, apex obtuse. Ray florets purplish red; lamina broadly oblanceolate, apex subtruncate, 2-4-lobed; tube shorter. Tubular florets numerous, purplish red. Achenes short. Pappus white, as long as tubular corolla. Fl. and fr. Jun-Sep.

Alpine meadows, gravelly areas on mountains; 3000-4000 m. S Xizang [Bhutan, India (Sikkim)].