1916-17.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH 121 



engaged on the Tibet Frontier Commission. The flowers 

 of the first collections were unfortunately damaged by 

 weevils and did not afford sufficient data for critical ex- 

 amination. It was consequently taken to be a singular 

 species of Saussurea, with S. Thoinsoni, Clarke and 8. 

 hracteata, Decaisne as its nearest allies. More satisfactory 

 material now available gives the following characters, which 

 do not accord well with Satissurea : — 



(1) The absence of the typical ring of hairs below the 

 stigmatic region ; (2) the absence of long basal appendages 

 to the anthers; (8) the presence of filiform female florets; 

 (4)the character of the pappus, which is scabriu or barbellato- 

 scabrid, not plumose ; (5) the villous achene ; (6) the absence 

 of paleae from the receptacle. 



The plant is a perennial, with a slightly woody base and 

 a rosette of lanceolate, sparsely dentate leaves. The stem 

 is leafy, with about six small, ovato-lanceolate or ovate 

 leaves (fig. 1). Usuall}'^ the plant has only one stem, but 

 two occur sometimes. The capitulum, which is shown in 

 fig. 1, is compressed but is naturally subglobose. The in- 

 volucral bracts are multi-seriate, lanceolate, acuminate 

 and ciliate near the tips (fig. 8). The outer bracts are 

 herbaceous and the inner bracts are rigid and more or 

 less scarious. The receptacle is convex and fimbrillate 

 (fig. 8). There are several rows of filiform florets towards 

 the outside, and 20 to 30 male disc florets (fig. 1). These 

 disc florets may be altogether absent. The filiform florets 

 are female and fertile (figs. 6 and 9). The style is branched 

 and shorter than the corolla ; the style branches are flattened 

 with rounded tips ; the stigmatic papillae are marginal, ex- 

 tending to the apex of the branches (fig. 7). Jhe stamens 

 are absent. The corolla is slender, tubular, hairy on the 

 outside near the middle, and the apex is marked by three 

 or four small teeth (fig. 6). The pappus (fig. 9) is setose, 

 copious, uniseriate, scabrid (fig. 10), 8-9 mm. long, and 

 'purple in colour. The mature achene is 5 mm. long, densely 

 villous (fig. 9), and the upper hairs seem to have been mis- 

 taken by Drummond with his incomplete material for an 

 outer series of setae. The disc florets are sterile ; the 

 aborted achene is glabrous, and the pappus consists of a 

 few (about ten) setae. The style is undivided and papillose 



