垫状风毛菊 dian zhuang feng mao ju

Herbs to 3.5 cm tall, perennial, caespitose. Caudex thick, much branched, with many sterile and flowering leaf rosettes forming dense cushions, with fibrously split bark, densely covered with remains of leaves. Rosette leaves petiolate; petiole sheathing at base; leaf blade narrowly elliptic to obovate in outline, 1.5-2.5 × 0.3-0.8 cm, pinnately lobed, both surfaces green and glabrous; lateral lobes 3-6, ovate-elliptic to suborbicular, margin entire or obtusely dentate, apex obtuse; terminal lobe orbicular or oblong-elliptic, larger than lateral ones, apex obtuse to rounded. Capitula solitary, sessile. Involucre campanulate, 5-8 mm in diam. Phyllaries in 5 or 6 rows, straw-colored, glabrous; outer phyllaries ovate, apex subobtuse; inner phyllaries narrowly ovate-elliptic, apex subobtuse or with a short cusp. Receptacle with short bristles. Corolla pale to deep red, 1.2-1.4 cm, tube 5-7 mm, limb 6-7 mm, lobes to 4 mm. Achene brown, obconic, to 5 mm, 4-angled, glabrous. Pappus dirty white to pale brown; outer bristles 1-5 mm; inner bristles 1-1.2 cm. Fl. and fr. Jul-Aug.

● Alpine grasslands and stony slopes; 2100-3500 m. NW Xinjiang (Tian Shan).