Acilepis saligna (DC.) H. Robinson

E. Himalaya (Nepal to Bhutan) eastwards to S. W. China (Yunnan).

600-1500 m

Perennial herbs, 2–2.5 m tall. Stems erect, conspicuously ribbed, sericeous. Leaves 10–15 by 3–6 cm, lanceolate or elliptic, margin serrate, apex acuminate, base cuneate, subcoriaceous; both surfaces scabrous with whip-shaped hairs and capitate glands; lateral veins 6–10-paired; petioles up to 6 mm long. Capitulescences terminal or axillary, paniculate. Capitula campanulate, 6–7 mm long, pedunculate. Receptacle flat, 2–2.5 mm in diam., hairy. Involucres in 5–6 series, 6–7 mm long, 3.5–4.5 mm in diam., herbaceous, campanulate. Phyllaries light green or purple apically, margin piliferous, outer surface arachnoid, glands capitate; the outer and the middle ones ovate, apex acuminate or cuspidate; the inner ones ovate-lanceolate to oblong, apex rounded or apiculate. Florets 10–15; corollas funnelform, purple, puberulous glandular; corolla tubes 6–7 mm long; corolla lobes 2–3 mm long. Anthers purple, 2.5–3 mm long, apical appendage acute, base obtuse. Styles purple, 5–7 mm long, branches 1.5–2 mm long. Achenes subterete, 3–3.5 mm long, 10-ribbed, pubescent with twin hairs and capitate glands. Pappus bristles, the inner ones 6–7 mm long.

Thailand: Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai. China (Yunnan), India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam.