裂叶莴苣 lie ye wo ju

Lactuca auriculata Candolle.

Herbs ca. 40 cm tall, annual. Stem solitary, erect, simple or divaricately branched from base; branches slender, glabrous. Leaves glabrous, base sagittately to auriculately clasping stem. Lower and middle stem leaves obovate, spatulate, or elliptic, 3-7 × 1-3.5 cm, pinnatipartite to subpinnatisect, margin entire or sparsely dentate; lateral lobes 3-6 pairs, rhombic, flabelliform, or orbicular, apex rounded to acute; terminal lobe rhombic, apex acute. Upper stem leaves lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, smaller, less or not divided, apex acuminate. Synflorescence corymbiform, with some to numerous capitula. Capitula with ca. 15 florets; peduncle capillaceous, usually longer than capitulum. Involucre narrowly cylindric and ca. 6 mm at anthesis, longish ovoid and to 1.3 × 0.3-0.4 cm in fruit. Phyllaries abaxially purplish red, glabrous, apex acute; outer phyllaries ovate to linear-lanceolate, approaching inner phyllaries to 3/4 their length; inner phyllaries ca. 5. Florets blue to bluish purple [or pale yellowish]. Achene body pale brown to blackish, obovoid, ca. 2.5 mm, compressed, with 3 ribs on either side; beak white, filiform, 4-4.5 mm. Pappus 3-4 mm. Fl. and fr. Jun. 2n = 16.

Grasslands; ca. 2000 m. Xinjiang, ?Xizang [Afghanistan, Bhutan, India (Sikkim), Kashmir, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Pakistan, Tajikistan; SW Asia].