细莴苣 xi wo ju

Basionym: Lactuca graciliflora Candolle, Prodr. 7: 139. 1838; Cicerbita taliensis (Franchet) Beauverd; L. taliensis Franchet; Stenoseris graciliflora (Candolle) C. Shih; S. taliensis (Franchet) C. Shih.

Herbs 0.5-2.5 m tall, perennial. Root slenderly turniplike. Stem solitary, erect, apically branched and glabrous or sparsely glandular hairy. Lower and middle stem leaves with petiole 4-7 cm, basally slightly widened; leaf blade pinnatisect to lyrately pinnatisect, glandular hairy, margin shallowly mucronulate-dentate; lateral lobes 2 or 3 pairs but uppermost pair often incompletely separated from terminal lobe, opposite or alternate, sessile or shortly petiolulate, elliptic to lanceolate, 1.5-4.5 × 1-2 cm, base cuneate to truncate, apex acute to acuminate; terminal lobe triangular-ovate to lanceolate, 5.5-11 × 4-9 cm, base hastate, cordate, truncate, or cuneate, apex acute. Upper stem leaves shortly petiolate to subsessile, smaller, less or not divided, otherwise similar to middle stem leaves. Synflorescence paniculiform, with numerous capitula and capillaceous branches. Capitula with usually 3 or 4 florets; peduncle capillaceous. Involucre narrowly cylindric, 12-15 × ca. 1.5 mm. Phyllaries glabrous; outer phyllaries triangular-ovate to lanceolate, largest ca. 3 × 1 mm, apex acute; inner phyllaries 3. Florets bluish purple. Achene 6-7 mm; body brown, narrowly ellipsoid to obcolumnar, compressed, lateral ribs broadened, apex contracted into a thick 1-1.5 mm beak. Pappus ± single, 6-7 mm. Fl. and fr. Jun-Sep. 2n = 16*.

Thickets, forest margins, grasslands; 2800-3500 m. Guizhou, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal].