膜片风毛菊 mo pian feng mao ju

?Saussurea corymbosa F. H. Chen; S. eriolepis Bunge ex Candolle var. paleata (Maximowicz) Herder.

Herbs to 60 cm tall, perennial. Stem solitary, erect, apically branched, arachnoid or glabrescent. Basal and lower stem leaves petiolate; petiole 5-7 cm; leaf blade narrowly ovate-cordate to oblong-cordate, 6-8 × 4-5 cm, abaxially grayish green and thinly arachnoid tomentose, adaxially green and glabrous, base cordate, margin serrate to dentate, apex acuminate. Middle stem leaves petiolate; leaf blade ovate to narrowly ovate-elliptic, gradually smaller upward on stem. Upper stem leaves shortly petiolate to subsessile; leaf blade narrowly ovate-elliptic to linear, apex acute. Capitula several, in a paniculiform or corymbiform synflorescence, pedunculate. Involucre campanulate, 7-10 mm in diam. Phyllaries in 3 or 4 rows, apically purplish red, arachnoid near margin, apex acute; outer phyllaries triangular, ca. 3 × 1 mm; middle phyllaries oblong, 3-6 × 1-1.5 mm; inner phyllaries linear-elliptic, 6-8 × ca. 1 mm. Corolla purplish red, ca. 8 mm, tube ca. 4 mm, limb ca. 4 mm. Achene brown, ca. 2 mm, glabrous. Pappus basally brownish but apically white; outer bristles 1-2 mm, scabrid; inner bristles ca. 7 mm. Fl. and fr. Jul-Sep. 2n = 26*.

● Mountain slopes; 1700-2200 m. Hebei, ?Liaoning.

Saussurea paleata is a doubtful taxon, probably only a glabrescent form of S. nivea; it was already reduced to a variety of the latter (as S. eriolepis) by Herder (Bull. Soc. Imp. Naturalistes Moscou 41(3): 32. 1868). The type specimen of S. corymbosa has not been examined by the present authors; therefore, the identity of that taxon remains unclear.