Saussurea lhozhagensis Y. S. Chen, 2014

Chen, You-Sheng, 2014, Six new species of Saussurea (Asteraceae) from eastern Himalaya, Phytotaxa 177 (4), pp. 191-206 : 200-204

6. Saussurea lhozhagensis Y. S. Chen , sp. nov. ( Fig. 6 & 9C )

Type:— CHINA. Xizang: Lhozhag, Lakang , mountains behind Kajiu monastery, scree slope or sandy meadows, 28°5’ N, 91°8’ E, 4330– 4570 m, 18 August 2013, FLPH Tibet Exped. 13-1587 (holotype PE; isotypes PE) .

Herbs 2–5 cm tall, perennial, polycarpic, stemless or shortly stemmed. Roots elongate, thickened. Rhizomes usually branched. Flowering stems erect, few, simple, 2–5 cm tall, base with persistent withered leaves. Lower leaves narrowly oblanceolate to narrowly oblong, 2–5 × 0.4–1 cm, margin with 2–4 pairs of teeth, apex acute or obtuse, midrib conspicuous, abaxially greyish white and covered with dense white wool-like multicellular hairs, adaxially light green, nearly glabrous, sparsely pilose along midrib. Upper leaves surrounding capitula, ovate-triangular, with dense woollike hairs. Capitula 5–25, ca. 5 mm in diameter, densely clustered on flat top of stem in a synflorescence 2.5–6 cm in diameter, hidden by dense arachnoid hairs at anthesis. Involucre cylindric, ca. 5 mm in diameter. Phyllaries in 3 or 4 rows, membranous; outer phyllaries spatulate to narrowly obovate, 8–11 × 2–3.5 mm, apex acute and arachnoid; middle and inner phyllaries slightly smaller, 7–8 × 2–3.5 mm, apex acute, sparsely arachnoid to glabrous. Receptacle naked. Corolla white, ca. 8.5 mm long, tube ca. 4 long, limb ca. 4.5 mm long, lobes ca. 1 mm long. Anther (including tails) 4.5–5 mm long, tails lanate, ca. 1.5 mm long. Achene blackish, conic, ca. 1.5 mm long, glabrous, ribbed. Pappus dark brown; outer bristles 3–3.5 mm long, scabrid; inner bristles ca. 8 mm long, plumose.

Distribution and habitat: — Saussurea lhozhagensis occurs in Lhozhag County, Xizang, China, adjacent to

Bhutan. It grows on scree slopes or sandy meadows at altitudes of 4330–4570 m.

Phenology:—Flowering and fruiting from August to September.

Etymology: —The specific epithet is derived from its type locality, Lhozhag.

Discussion:— Saussurea lhozhagensis obviously belongs to S. subgen. Eriocoryne because its capitula are clustered in densely congested hemispheric synflorescences surrounded by densely lanate leaves. Saussurea lhozhagensis is similar to S. conaensis ( Liu 1984: 69) Fujikawa & Ohba (2010: 73) in its leaf shape and naked receptacle, but S. lhozhagensis is different in its usually polycarpic habit, stem 2–5 cm tall, leaf blade narrowly oblanceolate to narrowly oblong, 2–5 × 0.4–1 cm, capitula 5–25, whereas S. conaensis is different in its usually monocarpic habit, stem 12–20(– 30) cm tall, leaf blade linear to narrowly oblanceolate to narrowly oblong, margin sparsely denticulate, 5–17 × 0.5– 2(–3) cm, capitula solitary. Saussurea lhozhagensis is also similar to S. nishiokae Kitamura (1969: 6) in its leaf shape and mumerous capitula but differs in its usually polycarpic habit, stem 2–5 cm tall, leaf blade narrowly oblanceolate to narrowly oblong, margin with 2–4 pairs of teeth, receptacle naked, whereas S. nishiokae is different in its monocarpic habit, stem 9–30 cm tall, leaf blade narrowly elliptic to oblong, margin entire, receptacles densely papillose, papillae ca. 0.5 mm long. A comparison of S. conaensis , S. lhozhagensis and S. nishiokae is given in Table 6.

Figures

FIGURE 6. Saussurea lhozhagensis. A. Habit in side view. B. Habit in vertical view. C. Leaf in transection. D. Phyllaries (from left to right, inner to outer series). E. Floret. F. Outer pappus. G. Inner pappus. H. Floret, with pappus removed. I. Anther. J. Style branches. All from FLPH Tibet Exped. 13-1587 (PE).

FIGURE 9. Saussurea bhutanensis (A, B) and S. lhozhagensis (C) in the wild and living plants.