短葶飞蓬 duan ting fei peng

Aster breviscapus Vaniot, Bull. Acad. Int. Géogr. Bot. 12: 495. 1903; Erigeron breviscapus var. alboradiatus Y. Ling & Y. L. Chen; E. breviscapus var. leucanthus X. D. Dong & Ji H. Li; E. breviscapus var. tibeticus Y. Ling & Y. L. Chen; E. dielsii H. Léveillé; E. praecox Vierhapper & Handel-Mazzetti.

Herbs, perennial, 1-50 cm tall (sometimes less than 1 cm), sometimes ± caespitose; rhizome woody, thick. Stems several or solitary, or less than 1 cm, 1-1.5 mm in diam. at base, erect or ascending, sometimes procumbent, green or rarely purplish, simple or sometimes 2-4 branched, sparsely to densely hirsute, strigillose, sparsely to moderately stipitate glandular, denser distally. Leaves mostly basal, basal rosulate, present at anthesis, winged petiolate, blade oblanceolate to obovate-lanceolate or broadly spatulate, 1.5-4 × 0.5-2.5 cm, surfaces sparsely to densely scabrous-hirsute, sparsely scabridulous, sparsely minutely glandular, sometimes glabrate, ± 3-veined, base ± gradually attenuate, margin entire, hirsute-ciliate, apex obtuse or rounded, mucronate; cauline 2-4, rarely absent, sessile, blade narrowly ovate-lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, 1-4 × 0.5-1 cm, base subclasping, apex obtuse to acute; upper reduced, linear. Capitula solitary at ends of stems or branches, 1.8-2.8(-3.5) cm in diam. Involucre hemispheric, 0.5-0.8 × 1-1.5 cm; phyllaries 3-seriate, slightly exceeding or equaling disk florets, green or purplish at margin and apex, linear-lanceolate, ca. 8 × 1 mm, membranous, acute to acuminate, outer 3.8-5.6 × 0.6-0.8 mm, abaxially densely to sparsely hirsute, ± densely strigillose, short-stipitate glandular, inner 5.6-7.3 × 0.6-0.85 mm, margin narrowly scarious, erose, sparsely ciliate. Ray florets 3-seriate, blue to purple or white, 9-12 × 0.8-1.1 mm, tube 2-3 mm, sparsely hairy in upper part and onto lamina base, lamina spreading, flat when dry; disk florets yellow, 3.5-4 mm, tube 1.2-1.5 mm, limb funnelform, sparsely hairy, lobes ovate, 0.55-0.6 mm, glabrous, tips sometimes reddish. Achenes narrowly oblong to oblanceolate, flattened, ca. 2.2 mm, densely strigose, often 1-ribbed abaxially. Pappus 2-seriate, brownish, outer bristles ca. 0.4 mm, inner 3.7-4 mm. Fl. Mar-Oct.

● Mid-elevation mountains, alpine to montane meadows, forest margins, Pinus forests, streamsides, grasslands, disturbed slopes, roadsides; 1200-3600 m. Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, Sichuan, E and S Xizang, Yunnan.

In addition to the typical variety, three varieties have been recognized. Erigeron breviscapus var. tibeticus (S Xizang: Qüxü; ca. 3600 m) is a high-elevation, shortly stemmed (sometimes less than 1 cm) morphotype; this extreme may represent phenotypic plasticity at the extreme limit of the species range. Erigeron breviscapus var. alboradiatus (EC Yunnan: Songming) is a white-rayed form with slender stems. The recently described E. breviscapus var. leucanthus is another pale-rayed form. Color forms frequently occur in Erigeron through a simple mutation within the flavonoid pathway. A biosystematic study of the complex is required to evaluate the value of these varieties.