六棱菊 liu leng ju

Erigeron alatus D. Don, Prodr. Fl. Nepal. 171. 1825; Blumea alata (D. Don) Candolle; Conyza alata (D. Don) Roxburgh; Inula exsiccata H. Léveillé; Laggera angustifolia Hayata; Triplostegia epilobiifolia H. Léveillé.

Herbs, robust, much branched, up to 60(-75) cm tall, glandular pubescent. Stems winged, wings 1-5 mm deep, herbaceous, entire, rarely somewhat denticulate, continuous. Leaves oblong, 2-8(-10) × 0.7-1.5 cm, densely covered with long multiseptate hairs, base decurrent, margin denticulate, apex acute to subobtuse. Capitula 1-1.3 cm in diam., arranged in leafy racemes, on short axillary winged branches. Involucre ovoid, ca. 9 mm in diam.; phyllaries 4- or 5-seriate, outer lanceolate, ca. 9 × 1 mm, inner longer, up to 10 mm, green at apex, glandular pubescent on outer side. Corolla of marginal florets ca. 6 mm, minutely toothed; corolla of disk florets 7-8 mm, 5-lobed. Style with obtuse sweeping hairs reaching below furcation. Achenes dark brown, ca. 1 mm. Pappus setae white, 6-7 mm, bristles equal, minutely scabrid. Fl. Mar-Oct. 2n = 20.

Wastelands and sunny meadows; below 2300 m. Fujian, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; E Africa, Madagascar].