三脉蒲儿根 san mai pu er gen

Senecio trinervius C. C. Chang, Bull. Fan Mem. Inst. Biol., Bot. 6: 60. 1935.

Herbs, scapigerous. Rhizomes 3-5 mm in diam., clad in persistent petiole bases. Stems solitary, erect, purplish, scapiform, 18-26 cm tall, slender, glabrous or sparsely puberulent. Leaves several, radical, rosulate, long petiolate; petiole 7-12 cm, slender, sparsely puberulent or subglabrous, basally slightly expanded; blade abaxially pale green, adaxially green, ovate-oblong or elliptic, 2.9-7.5 × 1.3-3 cm, membranous, both surfaces sparsely puberulent, brown ciliate on margin, basally 3-veined, base cuneate, margin coarsely mucronulate-dentate with 4-6 large deltoid teeth on each side, apex obtuse-acuminate, mucronulate. Capitula ca. 1.7 cm in diam., 4-8 in terminal corymbs or compound-corymbs; peduncles to 3 cm, slender, linear-bracteolate at base. Phyllaries 12 or 13, ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate, 4-4.5 × 0.3-1.3 mm, herbaceous, margin broadly scarious, apically acute, puberulent. Ray florets ca. 13, 10-11 mm; corolla tube ca. 3 mm, glabrous; lamina yellow, oblong, 6-8 × 2-2.5 mm, 4-veined, apically 3-denticulate and obtuse. Disk florets: corolla yellow, ca. 4.5 mm, with 2-2.5 mm tube and campanulate limb; lobes ovate, 1-1.5 mm, basally obtuse to rounded, appendages ovate-oblong. Ovary cylindric, ca. 1 mm, glabrous; style branches recurved, ca. 0.8 mm. Pappus white, 3.5-4 mm. Fl. May, fr. Jun.

● W Guizhou (Xingyi).

Sinosenecio trinervius is somewhat similar to S. bodinieri and S. confervifer, particularly in the scapigerous habit, but it is readily distinguishable by the leaves basally 3-veined. It is currently only known from the type locality. The record of its occurrence in S and NW Yunnan most likely resulted from misidentifications.