三脉兔儿风 san mai tu er feng

Ainsliaea macroclinidioides Hayata var. oblonga (Koidzumi) Hatusima; A. oblonga Koidzumi.

Herbs, perennial, 30-60 cm tall. Leaves loosely aggregated near median part of stem; petiole 1-1.5 cm, wingless; leaf blade narrowly elliptic, narrowly lanceolate, or lanceolate, 5-9.5 × 0.5-2.5 cm, papery, apparently 3-veined, both surfaces glabrous, base attenuate, slightly decurrent, margin denticulate or obscurely denticulate, apex long acuminate. Capitula shortly pedunculate, arranged in panicles, 3-flowered; involucre cylindric, 2-3 mm in diam.; phyllaries ca. 7-seriate, papery, abaxially glabrous, outer phyllaries ovate, 1-2 mm, inner narrowly elliptic, 1-1.2 cm. Florets bisexual, chasmogamous, corollas pink to white, tubular, ca. 9 mm, deeply 5-lobed, lobes oblong, unequal, anther appendages rounded to truncate. Achenes terete, ca. 3 mm, densely pilose; pappus dark yellow or light yellow, ca. 8 mm. Fl. Jul-Sep.

Stream banks, moist areas in dense forests; 600-900 m. N Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, SW Guizhou, S Jiangxi [Japan].

According to Freire (Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 94: 179. 2007), Ainsliaea oblonga is very close to A. trinervis but differs in having leaf blades lanceolate, 1-2.5 cm wide, with margin obscurely denticulate (vs. narrowly lanceolate, 0.5-1.3 cm wide, with margin denticulate in A. trinervis). Further studies will be necessary to determinate whether or not they are conspecific.