矮生绢毛菊 ai sheng juan mao ju

Basionym: Crepis depressa J. D. Hooker & Thomson, Fl. Brit. India 3: 397. 1881; Lactuca cooperi J. Anthony; L. pseudoumbrella D. Maity & Maiti; Tibetoseris depressa (J. D. Hooker & Thomson) Sennikov; Youngia depressa (J. D. Hooker & Thomson) Babcock & Stebbins.

Herbs 2-3 cm tall, perennial, rosulate, acaulescent, with a taproot. Caudex woody. Rosette leaves with a basally gradually widened petiole as long as or longer than blade; leaf blade orbicular, broadly ovate, or deltoid, 1.5-4 × 1-3.5 cm, adaxially puberulent, base broadly cuneate to rounded, margin subentire to sinuate-dentate, apex obtuse, rounded, or acute. Synflorescence subumbellate to ± hemispheric, 3-5 cm in diam., with some to many closely crowded capitula. Capitula with 15-20 florets; peduncle usually 0.5-2 cm. Involucre green or purplish red, cylindric, 1.3-1.6 cm. Phyllaries ± setose along midvein; outer phyllaries several, linear-lanceolate, 3-4 mm, almost equal in length, apex acute; inner phyllaries ca. 8, midvein subapically often faintly crested, margin ± scarious, apex obtuse to acute. Florets yellow. Anther tube greenish. Style blackish upon drying. Achene dark brown mottled with yellow, subfusiform to columnar, 6-7 mm, main ribs rather strong and alternating with usually a single somewhat more slender secondary rib, apically acutely papillate, apex attenuate into a yellowish ca. 1 mm beak. Pappus white, 9-10 mm. Fl. and fr. Aug-Sep. 2n = 16.

Grasslands on mountain slopes, alpine meadows; 3200-4500 m. Xizang [Bhutan, India (Sikkim), Nepal].

A subspecies with pinnatisect leaves and shorter achene and pappus described from India (Sikkim) and Nepal (as Tibetoseris depressa subsp. gauri D. Maity, Candollea 65: 213. 2010) is so far not known to occur in China.