峨眉火绒草 e mei huo rong cao

Herbs, perennial. Rhizome slender and usually branched, subwoody, erect or procumbent, densely covered with brown decayed leaves with dense radical rosettes of sterile leaves and numerous filiform radicals. Stems solitary or 3 or 4, usually 5-10(-18) cm tall, not branched, with 5-15(-30) leaves, entire plant light gray tomentose, but subglabrous on abaxial surface of leaves; stems sometimes not developed and plant forming sessile heads, not exceeding ca. 3 cm in height. Leaves lanceolate, lanceolate-oblong, or oblong-spatulate, 20-25 × 2.5-4.5 mm, abaxially white and densely covered with light gray tomentum, adaxially covered with sparse light gray tomentum and appearing greenish, lateral veins indistinct, base narrowed, apex obtuse or acute. Capitula 5-9, unisexual, dioecious, or heterogamous, 4.5-5.5 mm in diam.; bracteal leaves 9-12, densely arranged, oblong, larger than upper leaves, forming a star of 3-5.5 cm in diam., both surfaces densely grayish white tomentose, apex acute or obtuse. Phyllaries ca. 3-seriate, ovate, ca. 4 mm, apex obtuse, abaxially often green, brown to almost black adaxially. Corolla ca. 3 mm; corolla of male floret funnelform; corolla of female floret filiform. Achenes papillose. Pappus white, longer than corolla, serrulate. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jun-Aug.

● Moist rocks; 1800-2800 m. SE Gansu, W Sichuan.