18. Parasenecio ambiguus (Y. Ling) Y. L. Chen, Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 77(1): 45. 1999.
两似蟹甲草 liang si xie jia cao
Rhizomes robust, with numerous fibrous roots. Stem solitary, erect, striate, 80-150 cm tall, sparsely hairy or glabrous below, adpressed shortly pubescent in upper part. Leaves long petiolate; petiole not winged, 10-18 cm, glabrous; blade abaxially pale green, adaxially green, polygonal or reniform-triangular, abaxially sparsely shortly hairy, glabrescent, adaxially glabrous, 5-7-veined, lateral veins divaricately branched, base cordate or truncate, margin undulate-toothed, apex acute. Upper leaves smaller, shortly petiolate. Uppermost leaves narrowly ovate, bractlike, entire or laxly denticulate. Capitula small, very many, terminal and in upper leaf axils, arranged in ca. 10 cm, branched, broad panicles, sessile or subsessile, often with 1 subulate bractlet; rachis puberulent or subglabrous below. Involucres cylindric, ca. 5 × 1 mm; phyllaries 3 or 5, rarely 4, distinctly striate, linear, subleathery, glabrous, barbate, margin scarious, apically obtuse. Florets 3 or 5, rarely 4; corolla white, 4-5 mm with slender tube and broadly tubular limb; lobes lanceolate. Anthers exserted from corolla, basally long caudate. Style branches excurved, truncate, papillose. Achenes brownish, cylindric, 3-4 mm, glabrous. Pappus sordid white or yellow-brown, 4-5 mm. Fl. Jul-Aug, fr. Sep-Oct.
● Forest understories, forest margins, thickets, grasslands on slopes, valleys; 1200-2400 m. Hebei, Henan, Shaanxi, Shanxi.
