Aster flaccidus Bunge f. tunicatus Onno.

Herbs, perennial, 5-12 cm, subcaespitose; rhizome thick, clad in hard, fibrous marcescent leaf remains; roots simple. Stems strigose, with densely long-stipitate glandular leaves. Leaves 4-7, ± equidistant, margin revolute, scabrous; basal leaves long petiolate, petiole base clasping; blade spatulate-lanceolate, 1-4 × 0.5-1 cm, thick, glabrous, base attenuate, margin serrulate, apex acute to rounded; cauline leaves sessile, oblong, 1.2-2 cm, abaxially ± hairy, midvein scabrous, adaxially glabrous, base clasping, apex obtuse (lower cauline leaves sometimes glabrous). Capitula terminal, solitary, 3.5-4 cm in diam. Involucres hemispheric, up to 1 cm; phyllaries equal, leaflike, lanceolate, ca. 2 mm wide, strigose, eglandular, apex acuminate, purplish tinged. Ray florets dark blue, tube ca. 2.3 mm, hairy, lamina linear, 10-12 × 1-1.2 mm; disk florets orange-yellow, ca. 5.3 mm, tube ca. 1.5 mm, tube and limb hairy, limb cylindric-funnelform, lobes narrowly triangular, ca. 0.9 mm, glabrous, somewhat purplish when dry. Achenes (immature) compressed, sparsely strigose, 2-ribbed. Pappus (immature) 3-seriate, yellowish; outer series of scales ca. 0.6 mm; bristles rigid, barbellate; inner series of bristles ca. 5 mm, acute; innermost bristles ca. 5.6 mm, slightly clavate. Fl. Jul.

According to Onno, Aster brevis is distinguished from A. flaccidus by its stout rhizomes and roots.

No specimens were seen by us.

● Alpine slopes; ca. 3900 m. NW Yunnan (Zhongdian).