保靖蒲儿根 bao jing pu er gen

Herbs, rhizomatous, with leafy stems, without stolons. Stems solitary, erect, 75-150 cm tall, simple, villous or lanate. Basal leaves petiolate; petiole 14-28 cm, sparsely lanate, basally expanded, not auriculate; blade adaxially green, ovate-cordate, 12-20 × 10-18 cm, abaxially pale green or whitish lanate, adaxially sparsely villous, palmately veined, base cordate, margin denticulate, apically acute. Upper stem leaves similar but smaller, with shorter petioles. Capitula numerous in terminal compound corymbs; peduncles 1.5-4 cm, sparsely villous. Involucres campanulate, 6-7 × 6-9 mm; phyllaries ca. 13, oblong-lanceolate, 6-7 × 1.5-2 mm, herbaceous, puberulent, apically acute. Ray florets ca. 13; corolla tube ca. 3 mm, glabrous; lamina yellow, oblong-elliptic, ca. 8 × 3-4 mm, 4-7-veined, apically 3-denticulate. Disk florets numerous; corolla ca. 5 mm, with ca. 3 mm tube and campanulate limb; lobes ovate-lanceolate. Anthers ca. 1.5 mm, basally obtuse, appendages ovate-oblong. Style branches ca. 1 mm. Achenes cylindric, ca. 1.5 mm, smooth, glabrous. Pappus white, ca. 3 mm. Fl. Mar-Apr, fr. May. 2n = 48*.

● Open hillsides, in grass beside rice fields; ca. 300 m. NW Hunan (Baojing).

Sinosenecio baojingensis is similar to S. denticulatus in the leafy stem, tall stature, and smooth, pappose achenes, but it differs by its leaf blade ovate-cordate with margin denticulate and petioles not auriculate. It is the tallest species known in the genus, up to 150 cm.