红凤菜 hong feng cai

Cacalia bicolor Roxburgh ex Willdenow, Sp. Pl. 3: 1731. 1803.

Herbs, perennial. Stems erect, 50-100 cm tall, glabrous, flaccid, rather woody at base, corymbosely branched in upper part, striate when dry. Leaves petiolate or subsessile; blade abaxially becoming purplish when dry, adaxially green, obovate or oblanceolate, rarely oblong-lanceolate, both surfaces glabrous, lateral veins 7-9-paired, curved, base gradually attenuate into winged petioles or subsessile, ± expanded, but not auriculate, margin irregularly repand-dentate or mucronulate, rarely pinnatifid near base. Upper leaves shortly petiolate or subsessile, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, small. Capitula numerous, ca. 10 mm in diam., in terminal lax corymbs; peduncles 3-4 cm, slender, with 1 or 2(or 3) filiform bracts. Involucres campanulate, 11-15 × 8-10 mm; bracts of calyculus 7-9, linear; phyllaries 13, linear-lanceolate, 11-15 × 0.9-1.5(-2) mm, glabrous, conspicuously 3-ribbed, margin scarious, apically acute or acuminate. Florets orange to reddish; corolla distinctly exceeding involucres, 13-15 mm; tube 10-12 mm, slender; lobes ovate-triangular. Anthers rounded at base, or slightly acute. Style branch tips subulate, papillose. Achenes brownish, cylindric, ca. 4 mm, glabrous, 10-15-ribbed. Pappus white, silky, easily deciduous. Fl. May-Oct.

Forests on slopes, rocky or wet places by rivers; 600-1500 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Myanmar, Thailand; widely cultivated in gardens].