竟生香青 jing sheng xiang qing

Herbs, perennial. Rhizome unknown. Stems erect or arcuate, ca. 25 cm or more, lower stems 4-5 mm in diam., densely gray lanuginous, simple or upper part 1- or 2-branched, 4-9 cm, with sparse leaves; internode 1.5-2 cm. Lower leaves usually withered in anthesis; middle leaves broadly elliptic or suborbicular, 5-6.5 × 3-4 cm, base sharply narrowed to winged petiole, dilated and amplexicaul, margin flat, apex acute or subrounded, rarely acuminate; upper leaves gradually diminutive, oblanceolate-spatulate or oblanceolate-oblong, 5-6 × 1.3-2 cm, base attenuate to broadly winged petiole, amplexicaul, apex acuminate with tip; all leaves thick, both surfaces densely yellowish gray lanate, intermixed with villiform glandular hairs, 3- or 5-veined, lateral veins 1 or 2 pairs, midvein prominent abaxially. Capitula few, compound corymbiform, 1.5-3 cm in diam.; peduncle 2-3 mm, densely tomentose. Involucre narrowly campanulate, 4-5 × 3-4 mm; phyllaries ca. 5-seriate; outer phyllaries beige, ovate, 1.5-2 mm, arachnoid; middle ones sordid white, elliptic-oblong, 2.5-3 × 1-1.2 mm, apex rounded, or rarely 3-denticulate; innermost ones narrowly oblong or linear, ca. 3.5 mm, with green vittate claw. Capitula with heteromorphic florets, outer with many female florets, center with 1 or 2 male florets; male floret corolla tubular, female floret corolla filiform; pappus white, slightly exserted to corolla, in male slightly thick, in female setaceous. Achene brown, oblong, 0.7-0.8 mm, mammillate. Fl. Sep.

● Canal sides, roadsides; ca. 3700 m. Xizang (Gongbo’gyamda).

No specimens of this species were seen by the second author.