叉枝斑鸠菊 cha zhi ban jiu ju

Decaneurum divergens Candolle in Wight, Contr. Bot. India, 8. 1834; Acilepis divergens (Candolle) H. Robinson & Skvarla; Eupatorium divergens Roxburgh (1832), not Lessing (1830); Lysistemma divergens (Candolle) Steetz; L. multiflorum Steetz; Vernonia nilgherryensis Candolle.

Shrubby herbs, (0.6-)1-3 m tall. Stems erect, robust, divaricately branched, striate, red-brown pubescent-tomentulose, more densely so in upper part and branches. Petiole 5-7 mm, densely tomentulose; leaf blade elliptic-ovate or lanceolate, 5-12 × 2.5-10 cm, abaxially yellowish or reddish brown tomentose, denser along veins, adaxially papillose-scabrid-hairy, lateral veins 7-paired, veinlets reticulate, base cuneately attenuate, margin shallowly serrate, apex acuminate or shortly acute. Synflorescences usually terminal, panicles many branched, flat-topped. Capitula many; peduncles very short. Involucre campanulate, 5-6 mm wide; phyllaries 3- or 4-seriate, with greenish or purplish tip, ovate-oblong or ovate, 1-5 mm, puberulent or subglabrous, apex obtuse or shortly acute, outer short, ovate. Receptacle flat or rather convex, foveolate. Florets 8-12; corolla pink, tubular, 5-6 mm; lobes acute, glabrous. Achenes subcylindric, conspicuously 10-ribbed, glabrous, glandular between ribs. Pappus 2-seriate, sordid white or reddish; setae linear-lanceolate. 2n = 18.

Grasslands, thickets, forest margins; 1000-2400 m. Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan [Laos, Myanmar, N Thailand].

Candolle included the illegitimate name Eupatorium divergens within his new species.