小果雪兔子 xiao guo xue tu zi

Aplotaxis simpsoniana Fielding & Gardner, Sert. Pl. t. 26. 1844; A. gossypina Candolle var. minor Candolle; Saussurea sacra Edgeworth; S. yushuensis S. W. Liu & T. N. Ho.

Herbs 2-12[-25] cm tall, perennial, caespitose, polycarpic. Caudex stout, branched, with several sterile leaf rosettes and flowering stems. Stem solitary, ca. 6 mm in diam., erect, simple, usually hidden by leaves. Rosette and lower stem leaves petiolate; leaf blade narrowly oblong or narrowly elliptic to linear, 2-6 × 0.3-0.6[-1.2] cm, both surfaces green or purplish and sparsely arachnoid, base cuneate-attenuate, margin dentate to pinnately lobed, apex acute. Uppermost stem leaves linear, 10-25 × 1-2 mm, usually reflexed, both surfaces densely white lanate, margin entire or denticulate, apex acute. Capitula numerous, in a hemispheric synflorescence 2-3.5 cm in diam., sessile or shortly pedunculate. Involucre cylindric, 4-6 mm in diam. Phyllaries in 3 or 4 rows, membranous, apex acute to acuminate; outer phyllaries narrowly triangular-ovate, 11-13 × ca. 3 mm, apically lanate; inner phyllaries narrowly ovate-elliptic to linear, 9-10 × 1.5-2 mm, apically sparsely pilose. Receptacle bristles ca. 1.5 mm. Corolla purple, 0.9-1.1 cm, tube 3.5-5 mm, limb 5.5-6 mm, lobes 2-3 mm. Achene brown, 2-3 mm, wrinkled, apically sparsely papillose. Pappus straw-colored; outer bristles ca. 3 mm; inner bristles ca. 1 cm. Fl. and fr. Aug-Sep. 2n = 32.

Alpine scree slopes; 3700-5800 m. S Qinghai (Chindu, Nangqên), SW Xinjiang (Taxkorgan), S and SW Xizang (Burang, Yadong, Zhongba) [?Bhutan, NE and NW India, Kashmir, Nepal].

The characters that were used to distinguish Saussurea yushuensis from S. simpsoniana fall within the range of the latter, which has a large distribution area and exhibits a considerable morphological variability.