仙客来蒲儿根 xian ke lai pu er gen

Senecio cyclaminifolius Franchet, J. Bot. (Morot) 8: 362. 1894.

Herbs, scapigerous, stoloniferous. Rhizomes procumbent or ascending, slender, with fibrous roots. Stems solitary or few, erect, scapiform, equaling or exceeding leaves, 10-30 cm tall, tomentose, with white or fulvous hairs, ± glabrescent, simple, with a few brown broadly ovate bracts at or near base. Leaves radical, rosulate, long petiolate; petiole 4-22 cm, arachnoid-tomentose, later glabrescent; blade adaxially green, ovate-cordate or rarely suborbicular, 3.5-8 × 3.5-7.5 cm, abaxially densely white lanate, adaxially sparsely arachnoid-tomentose, glabrescent, palmately 5-veined, veins conspicuous abaxially, base narrowly cordate, margin shallowly repand-dentate with mucronulate teeth, apex obtuse, mucronulate. Capitula solitary, terminal, to 5 cm in diam.; scape with a few bracteoles; bracteoles purplish, ovate-lanceolate, membranous, margin entire or sparsely denticulate, apex acute or acuminate. Involucres obconic-campanulate, 12-15 × 10-14 mm, not calyculate; phyllaries ovate or ovate-oblong, purplish red and ciliate on upper margin and apex, densely lanate, or ± glabrescent, apex obtuse to subacute. Ray florets ca. 15; corolla tube ca. 3 mm; lamina yellow, ovate-oblong or oblong, 20-25 × ca. 5 mm, 5-8-veined, apically obtuse and 3-denticulate. Disk florets many; corolla yellow, with ca. 1.5 mm tube and campanulate limb; lobes ovate-lanceolate, ca. 2 mm, apically acute. Anthers ca. 2.5 mm, basally obtuse; appendages ovate-lanceolate. Style branches 1-1.5 mm, truncate, papillose. Achenes (immature) cylindric, 2-2.5 mm, smooth, glabrous. Pappus scant, ca. 3 mm, soon deciduous. Fl. Apr-May, fr. May-Jun.

● Woods, streamsides, rocky places, grasslands; 1300-1900 m. Chongqing (Chengkou, Wuxi), Sichuan (Wanyuan).

Sinosenecio cyclaminifolius is readily distinguished by its stoloniferous habit and few short, quickly deciduous pappus bristles. The longer, more copious, persistent pappus bristles and the absence of stolons clearly separate S. hederifolius from it. In geographical range, S. cyclaminifolius is almost sympatric with S. villifer, but it differs markedly from the latter in having leaf blades ovate-cordate, abaxially densely white lanate, and capitula solitary, up to 5 cm in diam.