叉舌垂头菊 cha she chui tou ju

Senecio nephelagetus Franchet.

Stem solitary, erect, 25-50 cm tall, ca. 3 mm in diam. at base, proximally glabrous, distally dark brown pilose. Basal leaves long petiolate; petiole 10-15 cm, glabrous, base narrowly sheathed; leaf blade reniform or orbicular-reniform, 2-4 × 3-5.5 cm, abaxially sparsely shortly black pilose along veins, adaxially glabrous, palmate veins prominent abaxially, margin shallowly crenate or coarsely dentate. Middle stem leaf solitary, petiolate; petiolar base with entire sheath; leaf blade smaller, reniform. Distal stem leaves 1 or 2, sessile, linear-lanceolate, margin entire. Capitulum solitary, nodding. Involucre hemispheric, 1-1.5 × 1.5-2.5 cm, outside brown pilose or glabrous; phyllaries 10-14, in 2 rows, 3-7 mm wide, apex acute; outer phyllaries narrower, lanceolate, 3-4 mm wide; inner phyllaries broader, oblong, 4-6 mm wide, margin brown membranous. Ray florets yellow; lamina broadly oblanceolate or cuneate, 1.6-2.3 cm × 6-9 mm, apex truncate, 3-lobed; lobes 2-4 mm; tube ca. 1 mm. Tubular florets numerous, yellow, 7-10 mm; tube 1.5-2 mm; limb cylindric. Achenes yellowish brown, cuneate, 4-5 mm. Pappus brown, proximal part dark brown, as long as tubular corolla. Fl. and fr. Jun-Aug.

Alpine meadows, grassy slopes, forest understories, gravelly areas on mountains; 3500-4800 m. SE Xizang, NW Yunnan [Bhutan, India (Sikkim), Nepal].