四川裸菀 si chuan luo wan

Replaced synonym: Aster simplex C. C. Chang, Sinensia 6: 541. 1935, not Aster simplex Willdenow, Enum. Pl. 2: 887. 1809; Asteromoea simplex Handel-Mazzetti; Gymnaster simplex Y. Ling; Miyamayomena simplex Y. L. Chen.

Herbs, perennial, 10-67 cm tall. Stems ascending, solitary or 2-4, simple or 2- or 3-branched from middle part, white hispidulous-villous. Leaves: basal spatulate, long petiolate; lower cauline leaves withered by anthesis; middle leaves oblong-lanceolate or subelliptic, 1.5-2.5(-4) × 0.3-0.6(-0.9) cm, white hispidulous-villous on both surfaces, minutely stipitate glandular in pits, midvein abaxially convex, adaxially concave, base rounded, sessile, margin entire, apex obtuse or acute; uppermost leaves remote, linear, ca. 1 cm. Capitula solitary, 2-2.5 in diam. Involucres hemispheric, ca. 6 × 1.5 mm; phyllaries 3- or 4-seriate, unequal; outer phyllaries green, rather short, lanceolate, 4-5 × 1.2-1.5 mm, acute or obtuse, externally pubescent; inner phyllaries obovate-oblong, 5-5.5 × 1.5-2 mm, acute, margin broadly scarious, ciliate, apically red-purplish. Ray florets purplish red, ca. 16 × 2 mm, tube ca. 2 mm, glandular puberulent; disk florets ca. 4 mm, tube ca. 1 mm, puberulent. Achenes yellowish, obovoid, slightly compressed, ca. 2 × 1.3 mm, inconspicuously marginally ribbed, glabrous. Pappus absent. Fl. and fr. Jul-Sep.

● Grasslands on slopes, canal sides; 2600-3000 m. NW Sichuan.