膜苞雪莲 mo bao xue lian

Saussurea nana (Pampanini) Pampanini; S. schultzii J. D. Hooker var. nana Pampanini.

Herbs 3-8(-20) cm tall, perennial, sometimes stemless. Caudex simple or few branched. Stems usually solitary, 2-3 mm in diam., erect, simple. Rosette and lower stem leaves shortly petiolate; leaf blade narrowly elliptic, 2-10 × 0.2-1 cm, abaxially glabrescent, adaxially glandular hairy, margin sinuate-dentate, apex acute. Middle and upper stem leaves sessile, narrowly ovate-elliptic, 3-5 × 0.5-1.8 cm. Uppermost stem leaves elliptic or ovate, 1.5-3.5 × 0.8-1.7 cm, membranous, half-enclosing capitulum, both surfaces yellowish green tinged purple to purplish red, margin dentate, apex acuminate. Capitulum solitary. Involucre narrowly campanulate to obconic, (1-)1.5-2.5(-3.5) cm in diam. Phyllaries in ca. 4 rows, densely villous to sparsely pilose, apex acute; outer phyllaries triangular-ovate, 6-9(-14) × 3-4 mm; middle phyllaries narrowly ovate to linear, 13-18 × 2-3 mm; inner phyllaries linear, 1.5-2.2 × 0.1-0.2 cm. Receptacle bristles 1.5-2.5 mm. Corolla purplish red, 1.5-1.8 cm, tube 6.5-8.5 mm, limb 7.5-9.5 mm, lobes 4.4-6 mm. Achene straw-colored, cylindric to obovoid, 5-6 mm, 4- or 5-ribbed. Pappus dirty white; outer bristles 2-3.6(-5) mm; inner bristles 1.1-1.5 cm. Fl. Jul-Sep, fr. Sep-Oct.

Alpine meadows and scree slopes; 4500-5400 m. S Xinjiang, W Xizang [NW India, Kashmir].