Cnicus uniflorus Linnaeus, Mant. Pl. 2: 572. 1771; Centaurea monantha Georgi; Leuzea uniflora (Linnaeus) Holub; Rhaponticum monanthum (Georgi) Voroschilov; R. satzyperovii Soskov; R. uniflorum subsp. satzyperovii (Soskov) Voroschilov; Serratula uniflora (Linnaeus) Poiret; Stemmacantha uniflora (Linnaeus) Dittrich.

Herbs (10-)20-100 cm tall. Stems single or few, grayish white, ca. 5 mm in diam., lanate, basally clothed with remains of petioles. Leaves grayish white, soft, arachnoid lanate. Basal and lower stem leaves petiolate; petiole 6-20(-40) cm; leaf blade elliptic, narrowly elliptic, or oblanceolate, 10-25 × 3-9 cm, pinnatipartite or subpinnatisect; lateral lobes or segments 5-12 pairs, elliptic to oblanceolate, margin toothed, coarsely toothed, or entire. Middle and upper stem leaves sessile or shortly petiolate, similar in form and same in division to basal and lower stem leaves. Peduncle stout, leafless or with a few diminished leaves. Capitulum 1. Involucre 3.5-6 cm in diam. Phyllaries in (4 or)5-8 rows, appendaged; appendages brown, broadly ovate to suborbicular, 0.9-1.5 × 0.8-1.5 cm, margin lacerate; outer phyllaries ovate, ca. 5 × 3 mm excluding apical appendage; middle phyllaries elliptic to lanceolate, ca. 10 × 4 mm excluding apical appendage; inner and innermost phyllaries lanceolate, ca. 2 × 0.3 cm excluding apical appendage. Corolla 2.5-3.5 cm. Achene cuneate, ca. 4 mm, with denticulate rim at apex. Pappus elements in many rows, longest ca. 2 cm, scabrid. Fl. Apr-Jul, fr. May-Aug. 2n = 26*.

The occurrence of Rhaponticum satzyperovii in NE China was indicated by Soskov (Fl. URSS 28: 317. 1963). It is said to differ from R. uniflorum by its more robust habit and its stem leaves with 4-6 pairs of ovate lobes (not 8-12 pairs of lanceolate lobes). This taxon should probably be treated as R. uniflorum subsp. satzyperovii, but the material seen is too scarce to make a decision about its taxonomic status.

Hills, forests, rocky slopes; 100-2700 m. Gansu, Hebei, SW Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, E Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, E Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan [Korea, Mongolia, Russia].