大头羽裂风毛菊 da tou yu lie feng mao ju

Herbs to 60 cm tall, perennial. Stem solitary, erect, simple, basally covered with dark brown remains of old leaf sheaths. Lower stem leaves ca. 2, elliptic, lyrate-pinnately parted, abaxially pale green and sparsely arachnoid lanate, adaxially green and pilose, base auriculate-amplexicaul, margin irregularly sinuate-dentate; lateral lobes oblong, 2.5-3.5 × 1.2-1.5 cm; terminal lobe ca. 10 × 8 cm. Middle and upper stem leaves ca. 2, narrowly ovate-elliptic, 7-14 × 2.5-6 cm, base auriculate, margin irregularly dentate, apex acuminate and mucronate. Capitula ca. 5, clustered in a hemispheric synflorescence, subsessile. Involucre ovoid, 9-10 mm in diam. Phyllaries in ca. 4 rows, pale yellowish green, apically and near margin dark purple, pilose, apex long acuminate; outer phyllaries broadly ovate-elliptic; inner phyllaries narrowly oblong. Receptacle bristles ca. 4 mm. Corolla purplish red, 1.1-1.2 cm, tube 4.5-5 mm, limb 3.5-4 mm, lobes ca. 2 mm. Achene cylindric, ca. 2 mm, smooth, glabrous, apex with a denticulate crown. Pappus brown; outer bristles short, scabrid; inner bristles plumose. Fl. and fr. Jul-Aug.

● Forests; ca. 3800 m. SE Xizang (Bomi).

Saussurea lyratifolia was placed in S. subg. Frolovia by C. Shih and S. Y. Jin (FRPS 78(2): 58. 1999). As all other former members of this subgenus are now accommodated in different genera, S. lyratifolia is now placed in S. subg. Saussurea. The typical double pappus and the capitula and synflorescence structure leave no doubt that this species belongs to Saussurea s.s. and not to one of the segregates. It is very similar to S. laneana W. W. Smith from India (Sikkim). Further studies are needed to investigate if this is indeed the same species.