近球状小花菊 jin qiu zhuang xiao hua ju

Matricaria subglobosa Krascheninnikov, Trudy Bot. Inst. Akad. Nauk S.S.S.R., Ser. 1, Fl. Sist. Vyssh. Rast. 3: 345. 1937.

Herbs, annual, 3-15 cm tall; stems simple or branched from base, sparsely white lanate. Leaves succulent, petiolate; leaf blade (0.8-)1-2(-3) × (0.3-)0.5-0.7(-1) cm, pinnate, sparsely grayish lanate; segments linear-lanceolate, apex acute; uppermost leaves linear. Capitula solitary; peduncle long, apically thicker, pubescent. Involucre very broadly obconical, 4-10 mm wide; phyllaries linear-oblong, slightly recurved, green, margin narrowly membranous. Marginal florets usually absent, white when present; usually florets all tubular, lemon-yellow, slightly constricted in middle but not inflated below this, exserted from involucre. Achenes 1-1.5 × 0.25-0.5 mm, abaxially slightly convex, adaxially with 3 or 4 obscure ribs, densely white scaly in broader part. Corona oblique, to 0.5 mm, not deeply lacerate, lobes acuminate.

Xinjiang (Tian Shan) [Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan].

Microcephala subglobosa is atypical of the genus as a whole, which usually has prominent ray florets and disk florets that are obviously inflated at the base. It is known from China by only a single gathering.