鼠麴火绒草 shu qu huo rong cao

Herbs, perennial. Rhizome slender, with numerous flowering and sterile stems. Stems slender, erect, 2-10 cm tall, simple or branching at base, entire plant gray silky or ash-colored lanate and equally leafy. Leaves linear or oblong to oblanceolate, 8-11 × 1.5-2.5 mm, abaxially white or ash-colored lanuginous, adaxially yellowish green and arachnoid, base narrowed, apex obtuse or acute. Capitula 2 or 3(-7), 5-7 mm in diam., in dense corymbs, or solitary; bracteal leaves numerous, as large as upper leaves or broader, abaxially densely white tomentose, adaxially sordid yellow tomentose. Involucre 3-seriate, abaxially yellowish pilose; phyllaries lanceolate, ca. 4 mm, apex brown and acute. Marginal florets female; corolla capillary. Disk florets male; corolla subtubular, ca. 3.5 mm. Achenes papillose. Pappus of capillary bristles, yellowish. Fl. Jul-Sep, fr. Sep-Oct.

Alpine grasslands, gravelly slopes, thickets; 3500-3800 m. NW Yunnan [Myanmar].

This is a very rare and distinct species related to the genus Gnaphalium.