Crepidiastrum diversifolium - Himalayan Hawksbeard

Himalayan Hawksbeard is perennial herb 18-40 cm tall, with rosette leaves. Stems are solitary or few, erect, branching from base or middle, leafy. Rosette leaves are stalked; leaf-stalk 2-6 cm, long brown woolly, leaf blade narrowly elliptic, 6-9 x 2-4 cm, pinnately divided; lateral lobes 6-9 pairs, lanceshaped to linear, margin entire or with few teeth; end lobe similar to lateral ones. Stem leaves are similar to rosette leaves but gradually smaller and less or not divided upward on stem. Flowers are borne in corymbs or panicles. Flower-heads have 10-16 florets. Involucre is broadly cylindric, 1-1.4 cm. Phyllaries below dark green, sparsely curled hairy, frequently crested or corniculate below tip; outer phyllaries few, ovate-lanceshaped, longest 1/4-1/3 as long as inner ones, tip pointed; inner phyllaries 8. Seedpods are brown to blackish, spindle-shaped, 5-7.5 mm, with 10-14 ribs, shortly rough, tip narrowed to weakly beaked. Pappus is white, 6-7 mm. Himalayan Hawksbeard is found on mountain slopes, rock slopes, gravelly areas on floodplains, in SW Siberia to Himalaya and China, at altitudes of 1800-4700 m. Flowering: July-September.