Acilepis squarrosa D. Don, Prodr. Fl. Nepal. 169. 1825; Vernonia rigiophylla Candolle; V. squarrosa var. orientalis Kitamura; V. teres Wallich ex Candolle.

Herbs, perennial, 15-35 cm tall or higher. Stems erect, hard, usually simple, terete, finely striate, rather scabrid, adpressed brownish puberulent and glandular. Leaves crowded together; petiole short to almost absent; leaf blade obovate, elliptic-obovate, or oblong-lanceolate, 5-8 × 1.5-2.5 cm, hard, abaxially sparsely adpressed puberulent and glandular, adaxially and marginally scabrid-papillose or scabrid-hairy, lateral veins 6-paired, veins adaxially prominent, veinlets conspicuously reticulate, base attenuate or sometimes rounded, margin finely serrate, apex shortly acute or obtuse. Synflorescences terminal and axillary. Capitula solitary, 20-25 mm in diam.; peduncle short to almost absent, with reduced leaflets. Involucre obconic, 15-16 × ca. 15 mm; phyllaries 6-seriate, with red-purple tinge, outer short, subulate or subulate-lanceolate, white arachnoid tomentose, glandular, apex rigid-spinescent, median oblong-lanceolate, inner sublinear, 14-15 × ca. 1 mm, margins narrowly scarious, glabrous, apex long acuminate. Receptacle flat and foveolate. Florets 30-50; corolla reddish purple or purple, tubular, 13-14 mm, glandular; lobes linear, ca. 4 mm, apically glandular. Achenes oblong-cylindric, 3-4 mm, 10-ribbed, densely sericeous, glandular. Pappus 2-seriate, sordid white or yellowish; outer setae few, short; inner setae 8-9 mm, scabrid. Fl. Sep-Nov. 2n = 36.

Grassy slopes; 1200-1800 m. Yunnan [Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam].