蝟菊 wei ju

Carduus lomonossowii Trautvetter, Trudy Imp. S.-Peterburgsk. Bot. Sada 1: 183. 1872; C. hsiaowutaishanensis F. H. Chen; C. sinensis S. Moore; Olgaea hsiaowutaishanensis (F. H. Chen) Y. Ling; O. sinensis (S. Moore) Iljin; Serratula diabolica Kitamura; Synurus diabolicus (Kitamura) Kitamura; Takeikadzuchia lomonossowii (Trautvetter) Kitagawa & Kitamura.

Herbs 15-60 cm tall. Stem solitary, grayish white, erect, usually branched from near base, rarely unbranched, densely and thickly felted, eventually glabrescent, base covered with petiole remains; wings 1-2 mm wide, margin entire and spinulose. Leaves papery, strongly discolorous, abaxially grayish white and thickly felted, adaxially green and glabrous. Basal leaves with brown petiole; leaf blade elliptic, 8-20 × 4-7 cm, pinnately lobed or pinnatipartite; segments 4-7 pairs, elliptic, ± narrowly ovate, or ovate-lanceolate, margin and apex with 0.5-2 mm spines; terminal segment ± narrowly ovate or lanceolate. Lower cauline leaves similar but sessile; upper cauline leaves gradually smaller upward, ± narrowly elliptic, lanceolate, or narrowly triangular, less divided to entire. Capitula (1 or) few to many. Involucre campanulate to hemispheric, 5-7 cm in diam., sparsely cobwebby. Phyllaries narrowed into long spines; outer and middle phyllaries linear-triangular, 8-24 × 1-2 mm; inner phyllaries similar but longer, ca. 3.5 × 0.2 cm. Corolla purple, ca. 3 cm, tube ca. 1.2 cm. Achene cuneate-obovoid, ca. 6 mm, with a repand apical rim. Pappus bristles brown, to 2 cm, slender. Fl. and fr. Jul-Oct.

Valleys, slopes, sandy areas, riverbeds; 800-2300 m. C Gansu, Hebei, N Jilin, Nei Mongol, N Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shanxi [Mongolia].