青海紫菀 qing hai zi wan

Herbs, perennial, ca. 50 cm tall, rhizomes robust. Stems erect, sparsely short villous. Leaves: basal and lower cauline leaves long petiolate, lanceolate, shortly villous, abaxial midvein densely villous, base attenuate, margin entire, shortly villous-ciliate; upper cauline leaves sessile, base clasping; uppermost leaves small, linear-lanceolate. Capitula terminal, solitary, 5-6 cm in diam. Involucres not visible; phyllaries subequal, (not fully visible) to 1.5 mm wide, abaxially brown stipitate glandular, margin of inner phyllaries scarious, ciliate, apex long acuminate. Ray florets dark purple, ca. 25 mm, tube ca. 2 mm, lamina linear, 10-15 mm; disk florets yellow, ca. 4.4 mm, tube ca. 1.1 mm, upper tube and limb base hairy, lobes lanceolate, ca. 0.7 mm. Achenes (immature) oblanceolate, compressed, 2-ribbed, strigose. Pappus (immature) whitish, 3-seriate; outermost series of scales 0.5-0.7 mm; inner series of bristles 4.1-4.7 mm, acute; innermost bristles ca. 6 mm, ± clavate. Fl. Jul.

● About 3800 m. E Qinghai (near Qinghai Hu).

The type of Aster lipskii has not been seen. The original description was based on seeds collected from near Qinghai Hu and cultivated at the Komarov Botanical Gardens. This species differs from A. diplostephioides in its narrower phyllaries (to 1.5 mm).