柳叶斑鸠菊 liu ye ban jiu ju

Acilepis saligna (Candolle) H. Robinson; Aster coriaceifolius H. Léveillé & Vaniot; Vernonia longicaulis Candolle; V. martini Vaniot; V. seguinii Vaniot.

Herbs, perennial, hard, 60-100(-200) cm tall. Stems erect, woody at base, to 8 mm in diam., terete, striate, sparsely adpressed-puberulent or subglabrous, glandular. Petiole short to almost absent; leaf blade elliptic-oblong or oblanceolate, 5-18 × 1-5 cm, papery, both surfaces scabrid-puberulent and glandular, lateral veins 7- or 8-paired, veins abaxially prominent, reticulate veins sometimes very prominent, base narrowly cuneate, margin remotely serrate, apex acuminate or acute. Synflorescences terminal or axillary, panicles flat-topped, leafy. Capitula usually 6-8, 5-8 mm in diam.; peduncles 5-8 mm, densely puberulent and glandular. Involucre narrowly campanulate, 5-7 × ca. 6 mm; phyllaries 4- or 5-seriate, reddish purple in upper part, ovate or oblong, 1.5-6 mm, scabrid, sparsely tomentose-ciliate or subglabrous, apex obtuse and mucronulate. Florets 16-20; corolla reddish pink to pale violet, occasionally ± white, tubular, 6-7 mm, with slender tube and narrowly campanulate limb; lobes lanceolate, glandular. Achenes cylindric, ca. 2 mm, 10-ribbed, glabrous, glandular. Pappus 1-seriate, setae whitish, ca. 7 mm, scabrid-barbellate. Fl. Sep-Feb.

Thickets or open forests on slopes; 500-1600(-2100) m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan [Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Vietnam, Thailand].

This taxon was first named "Conyza saligna" (in Wallich, Numer. List, no. 3061. 1831), which is a nomen nudum and was therefore not validly published.

The leaves are used to treat fever, including malaria.