紫背合耳菊 zi bei he er ju

Senecio pseudoalatus C. C. Chang, Bull. Fan Mem. Inst. Biol., Bot. 6: 57. 1935.

Herbs, subacaulescent, rhizomatous. Rhizome thick, subtuberous, woody. Vegetative stem erect, subterranean part rooting at nodes, densely tomentose, leafless except at apex. Flowering stem solitary, arising from basal rosette, erect, scapiform, ca. 50 cm tall, ferruginous tomentose, somewhat glabrescent. Leaves in basal rosette, long petiolate; petiole 5-7 cm, not winged, densely ferruginous lanate; blade abaxially purple, ovate-oblong, 10-20 × 4-10 cm, papery, abaxially finely scattered villous, adaxially finely setulose, pinnately veined, lateral veins 10-14, arcuate-ascending, base cordate, margin shallowly repand-apiculate, apex shortly acute-acuminate. Flowering stem leaves few, sessile, lanceolate, bractlike. Capitula radiate, numerous, arranged in a rather slender compound thyrse terminating flowering stem; peduncles 2-3 mm, densely ferruginous tomentose, bracteate, few bracteolate; bracts and bracteoles linear, small. Involucres cylindric, 7-8 × ca. 3 mm, calyculate; bracts of calyculus 3-5, purplish, subulate, small; phyllaries 7 or 8, oblong, 1-1.5 mm wide, densely villous with purplish hairs, margin broadly scarious, apically obtuse to acute and puberulent, purple. Ray florets 4 or 5; corolla tube ca. 4.5 mm; lamina deep yellow, oblong, ca. 4 × 1.5 mm, 3-denticulate. Disk florets 10 or 11; corolla orange, ca. 8 mm, with ca. 3 mm tube and funnelform limb; lobes ovate-triangular, ca. 1 mm, apically acute, papillose. Anthers ca. 3 mm; anther tails ca. 0.75 × as long as antheropodia; appendages ovate-triangular; antheropodia stout, basally dilated. Style branches ca. 1 mm, fringed with moderately long papillae, central tuft longer, prominent. Achenes ca. 1.3 mm, glabrous. Pappus white, ca. 6.5 mm. Fl. Oct.

Cliff ledges, rocky slopes; ca. 2700 m. NW Yunnan [Myanmar].