皱叶鸦葱 zhou ye ya cong

Scorzonera marschalliana C. A. Meyer var. latifolia Ruprecht; S. marschalliana var. oblongifolia Trautvetter; S. tianshanensis C. H. An.

Herbs usually 8-25 cm tall, perennial. Rootstock ca. 8 mm in diam. Caudex woody, with dark brown or pale yellow scarious leaf sheath residues. Stems solitary or few, branched from base or from middle with curved-erect branches, stellate puberulent, basally leafy. Basal leaves narrowly elliptic to narrowly lanceolate, 5-20 × 0.4-0.7[-2] cm, stellate puberulent, glabrescent, base attenuate, margin mostly undulate, apex acuminate. Stem leaves few, smaller than basal leaves but otherwise similar. Synflorescence laxly corymbiform, with usually 2-4 long-pedunculate capitula. Involucre cylindric, 1.5-2 × 0.5-0.8 cm at anthesis, to usually 2.5-3 × 1-1.3 cm in fruit. Phyllaries stellate puberulent, glabrescent; outermost phyllaries triangular-ovate, 3-8 × 4-5 mm. Florets yellow, ca. 1.5 × as long as involucre. Achene cylindric, 1-1.4 cm, with tuberculate ribs, glabrous. Pappus dirty white to straw-colored, usually 1.5-2 cm. Fl. and fr. May-Aug. 2n = 14.

Stony slopes, dry steppes; 800-1700 m. Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan].

We have not seen material of Scorzonera tianshanensis (C. H. An, Fl. Xinjiang. 5: 480. 1999), but, from the description given, the only difference between it and S. inconspicua appears to be the presence of "two white membranous wings along the corolla tube," which perhaps may be an artifact but certainly not a suitable diagnostic feature whatsoever.