宽翅风毛菊 kuan chi feng mao ju

Aplotaxis candolleana Candolle, Prodr. 6: 541. 1838; Saussurea candolleana var. glabrata Lipschitz; S. candolleana subsp. platyptera Lipschitz; S. pterocaulon Decaisne.

Herbs 50-100 cm tall, perennial. Stem solitary, erect, apically branched, narrowly winged. Lower stem leaves sessile, ovate-elliptic, obovate, or narrowly elliptic-oblong, 12-18 × 4-6 cm, abaxially pale green, gland-dotted, and sparsely arachnoid, adaxially dark green, scabrid, and sparsely pubescent to subglabrous, base attenuate, semiamplexicaul, and decurrent, margin denticulate, apex acuminate. Middle and upper stem leaves 6-16 × 0.8-4 cm, gradually smaller upward on stem. Capitula 10-20, in a clustered corymbiform synflorescence. Involucre narrowly campanulate, 5-8 mm in diam. Phyllaries in 5 or 6 rows, yellowish green but dark purple apically; outer phyllaries ovate, 3-6 × 1-2.5 mm, apex acuminate; middle phyllaries narrowly ovate-elliptic, 5-8 × 1.5-2 mm, apex acuminate to subacute; inner phyllaries narrowly elliptic to linear, 8-10 × 1-1.5 mm, apex obtuse. Receptacle bristles light brown, 5-8 mm. Corolla 1-1.2 cm, tube 5-6 mm, limb 5-6 mm, lobes 3.5-4 mm. Achene obconic to cylindric, ca. 5 mm, glabrous. Pappus light brown; outer bristles 2-4 mm; inner bristles 8-9 mm. Fl. and fr. Aug-Sep. 2n = 26.

Tall forb communities on scree slopes, Juniperus woodlands; 2800-3900 m. S Xizang (Tingri, Yadong) [Bhutan, NE and NW India, Kashmir, Nepal].

The report of Saussurea parviflora from S Xizang (S. Y. Liang, Fl. Xizang. 4: 893. 1985) is in fact referable to S. candolleana, which has recently also been found in a second locality in S Xizang, in Tingri Xian.