疏毛蒲公英 shu mao pu gong ying

Herbs to 15 cm tall. Petiole purplish, narrowly winged to narrow; leaf blade grayish pale green, narrowly oblanceolate, 10-13 × 1.5-2.5 cm, sparsely arachnoid but later glabrescent, pinnatisect; lateral lobes 4 or 5, ± narrowly triangular to triangular, subpatent to ± recurved, distal margin straight to ± concave and entire or minutely dentate; interlobes 5-10 mm, margin usually remotely dentate; terminal lobe triangular to triangular-sagittate, 1.2-2 × 1.2-1.5 cm, apex ± acute. Scapes brownish green, ± overtopping leaves, sparsely arachnoid at base but densely arachnoid below capitulum. Involucre 7-8 mm wide, base rounded to ± truncate. Outer phyllaries 13-16, pale green with a paler border, ± not imbricate, ovate-lanceolate, outermost ones 5-7 × 2-3 mm and 1/2-2/3 as long as inner ones, ± subappressed, border 0.2-0.5 mm, margin glabrous to sparsely ciliate, flat to corniculate below apex; inner phyllaries 1.1-1.3 cm, apically minutely corniculate. Ligules yellow; outer ligules flat, outside striped brownish purple; inner ligules with purple or dirty yellow teeth; floret tube outside pubescent. Stigmas dirty yellow to pale greenish. Anthers polliniferous; pollen grains irregular in size. Achene grayish straw-colored brown, 3.8-4 × 0.8-0.9 mm; body ± smooth below, apically spinulose with thin long acute spinules, ± gradually narrowing into a cylindric 0.8-1 mm cone; beak ca. 8 mm. Pappus pure white, 5-6 mm. Fl. spring. Agamosperm.

● Grasslands; ca. 1300 m. SW Xinjiang (Kashi).

Taraxacum puberulum is based on a single wild specimen and a few cultivated plants. The taxon has many features of T. sect. Ceratoidea (achene characters, outer phyllary color, shape, and posture), but in other attributes it approaches T. sect. Qaisera.