兴安一枝黄花 xing an yi zhi huang hua

Solidago virgaurea Linnaeus var. dahurica Kitagawa, Rep. Inst. Sci. Res. Manchoukuo 1: 297. 1937; S. virgaurea subsp. dahurica (Kitagawa) Kitagawa.

Herbs, perennial, woody caudex shortly branched; rhizomes woody, sometimes to 5-10 cm. Stems erect, 36-100 cm tall, simple or inflorescence-branched in upper part, glabrous in lower part, sparsely puberulent in upper part. Leaves: lower cauline petiole usually equaling blade, winged, blade elliptic, long elliptic, or lanceolate, rarely ovate, 7-18 × 2.5-3.5 cm, both surfaces glabrous or sparsely puberulent along veins, base gradually narrowed, decurrent, margin coarsely or finely serrate; mid cauline sessile, blade elliptic, long elliptic, or lanceolate, 5-17 × 1.5-4 cm; upper cauline length from widest point to apex 25-45 mm, mean 34.5 mm. Capitula 10-12 × ca. 10 mm, few to numerous in terminal, dense or lax, long paniculiform synflorescences to 30 cm, or in racemiform ones 10-12 cm, rarely glomerate, branches erect, inserted around stem, capitula attached around branch. Involucre campanulate, 6-9.5(-10) mm; phyllaries 3-5-seriate, lanceolate, 5-8 mm, outer often not much shorter than inner, margin narrowly scarious, apex acuminate or acute. Ray florets 5-10, yellow, lamina 4.6-6.5 mm; disk florets 4-24, averaging 12, 5-7.3 mm, lobes 1.1-1.5 mm. Achenes angled, 2.5-4 mm, distal 1/3-1/2 sparsely to moderately strigose, proximally glabrous or glabrate. Pappus white, bristles 4.5-6.8 mm, inner (longest) weakly to moderately clavate. Fl. and fr. Jul-Sep.

Forests, forest glades; 300-2100 m. Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Shanxi, Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, E and SC Russia, Uzbekistan].

This species has been treated as a variety or subspecies of Solidago virgaurea Linnaeus (Sp. Pl. 2: 880. 1753; 毛果一枝黄花 mao guo yi zhi huang hua). Typical S. virgaurea is native to Europe and SW Asia eastward to India, Nepal, and Pakistan. Its presence in China has not been confirmed, but it may occur in westernmost Xinjiang. It has large capitula similar to those of S. dahurica but has achenes that are very sparsely to densely strigose over the entire surface, not just distally.