稻槎菜 dao cha cai

Lapsana apogonoides Maximowicz, Bull. Acad. Imp. Sci. Saint-Pétersbourg 18: 288. 1873.

Herbs 5-25 cm tall, annual to biennial, rosulate, with a taproot. Stems several, slender, ascending, branched from basal half or higher up, pubescent or glabrous, distantly leafy. Rosette leaves oblanceolate, 3-15 × 1-2.5 cm, lyrately pinnatisect, base attenuate into a petiole-like portion, margin subentire to mucronulately sinuate-dentate; lateral lobes 2 or 3(or 4) pairs, ovate, elliptic, or hemispheric, apex mucronulate; terminal lobe ovate, rhombic, or elliptic, much larger than lateral ones, apex rounded and mucronulate. Stem leaves few, similar to basal leaves. Synflorescence laxly corymbiform to laxly paniculiform-corymbiform, with few to several capitula. Capitula nodding in fruit, with 6-10 florets; peduncle 1-5 cm. Involucre narrowly cylindric and 3-4 mm at anthesis, cylindric, campanulate, or obovoid and 4-6 mm in fruit. Phyllaries abaxially glabrous; outer phyllaries 3 or 4, ± ovate, longest 1-1.5 mm, apex acute and often purplish tipped; inner phyllaries 5(or 6). Achene straw-colored to yellowish brown, body 4-5 mm, minutely papillose, usually lateral main ribs apically prolonged into (1 or)2 slender hooked 0.2-1 mm appendages or rarely absent. Fl. and fr. Nov-Jun. 2n = 44.

Riverbanks, fields, wastelands, roadsides; low elevations. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea; introduced to W North America].

In Guangxi and Hunan, the species is used as green fodder for pigs.