Ainsliaea gracilis Franchet var. robusta Diels.

Herbs, perennial, 25-60 cm tall. Leaves aggregated near median part of stem; petiole 3-7 cm, wingless; leaf blade broadly ovate, ovate, or ovate-lanceolate, 3-4.5(-7) × 2-5 cm, papery, palmate-pinnate veined, abaxially sparsely villous, adaxially sparsely strigose, base truncate, obtuse, or shortly attenuate, margin large dentate or sinuate, apex acute, rarely acuminate. Capitula shortly pedunculate, arranged in racemes, 3-flowered; involucre cylindric, ca. 3 mm in diam.; phyllaries ca. 6-seriate, papery, abaxially sparsely pubescent or glabrate, outer phyllaries broadly ovate, 1.5-2.5 mm, inner narrowly elliptic, ca. 1 cm. Florets bisexual, chasmogamous, corollas white, tubular, 1.6-1.7 cm, deeply 5-lobed, lobes linear-oblong, unequal, anther appendages truncate. Achenes subfusiform, ca. 4 mm, glabrous; pappus light brownish, ca. 7 mm. Fl. Sep-Oct.

Ainsliaea gracilis var. robusta is treated here as a synonym of A. grossedentata on account of its leaf margins being shallowly pinnately lobed to dentate (vs. obscurely denticulate in A. gracilis).

● Forests; 1200-2100 m. Chongqing, N Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, W Hunan, W Jiangxi, Sichuan.