倒折联毛紫菀 dao zhe lian mao zi wan

Aster retroflexus Lindley ex Candolle, Prodr. 5: 244. 1836; A. curtisii Torrey & A. Gray.

Herbs, perennial, 45-80 cm tall. Stems erect, sometimes purplish, glabrous (except above in lines). Leaves: basal petiolate, lanceolate to ovate, rarely rounded, usually fallen at anthesis; cauline petiolate to sessile, lanceolate to lanceolate-ovate, [5-]6-9.5 × 0.7-1.5[-3.1] cm, slightly reduced in size upward, surfaces glabrous, base attenuate to cuneate or rounded, margin serrate to crenate, sometimes entire, ciliate, apex acute to acuminate. Capitula radiate, numerous, in open, leafy, paniculiform synflorescences, branches spreading; peduncles 0.2-2.5 cm; leaflike bract usually subtending capitulum. Involucre campanulate; phyllaries 3-5-seriate, outer squarrose, often leaflike, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, ± unequal, outer 6-11 × 0.8-2 mm, eglandular, glabrous, margin narrowly scarious, erose, eciliate, apex acute to acuminate. Ray florets [13-]18-20[-30] in 1 series, lamina purplish blue, [10 or]11[-17] × 1.5[-3] mm, glabrous; disk florets cream to pale yellow, becoming pinkish, 5[-6.8] mm, limb funnelform, 3-3.5 mm, lobes erect, lanceolate, 0.9-1.2 mm, glabrous. Achenes oblanceoloid, ± compressed, 3-3.9 mm, sparsely strigillose, 4-6-veined. Pappus white to reddish, inner 4-4.5 mm, innermost 5-6 mm. Fl. and fr. Sep-Dec.

Roadsides along fields or in mountains. Introduced in Jiangxi [E North America].