华山风毛菊 hua shan feng mao ju

Saussurea eriolepis Bunge ex Candolle var. huashanensis Y. Ling, Contr. Inst. Bot. Natl. Acad. Peiping 3: 163. 1935; S. alatipes Hemsley var. huashanensis (Y. Ling) Y. Ling; S. nivea Turczaninow var. huashanensis (Y. Ling) S. Y. Hu.

Herbs 40-60 cm tall, perennial. Rhizome stout, simple, apically covered with brown residue of petioles. Stem solitary, erect, apically branched, arachnoid lanate. Basal and lower stem leaves petiolate; petiole 8-11 cm, wingless or narrowly winged, 1-3-lobed or dentate; leaf blade ovate to elliptic, 7-18 × 4-10 cm, papery, abaxially grayish green and densely tomentose, adaxially green and glabrous, base cordate to rarely truncate, margin sinuate to sinuate-lobate, apex acute to acuminate. Middle and upper stem leaves few; petiole 1-4 cm; leaf blade ovate to elliptic, gradually smaller upward on stem. Capitula numerous, in a paniculiform or corymbiform synflorescence, pedunculate. Involucre narrowly campanulate, 8-10 mm in diam. Phyllaries in 6 or 7 rows, arachnoid, apex black, acuminate to acute, and mucronate; outer phyllaries ovate, ca. 2 × 2 mm; middle phyllaries oblong to narrowly elliptic, ca. 8 × 3 mm; inner phyllaries linear, ca. 11 × 2 mm. Corolla pale purple, 1.4-1.6 cm. Achene cylindric, ca. 6 mm, ribbed, glabrous, apex with a short crenulate crown. Pappus white; outer bristles ca. 5 mm, scabrid; inner bristles ca. 1 cm. Fl. and fr. Aug-Sep.

● Tallgrass meadows, thickets; 1800-2100 m. W Henan, E Shaanxi (Hua Shan).

Saussurea huashanensis is very close to S. alatipes but differs by the unwinged or narrowly winged petioles. Saussurea huashanensis seems to replace S. alatipes in the E part of the Qin Ling range.