Saussurea stella Maxim.

Flowering and fruiting from July to September.

Saussurea stella is close relative of Saussurea thoroldii, but differs from the latter in its leaf blade stellate (vs. not stellate), margin entire (vs. pinnately parted), pappus white (brown).

Saussurea stella is occurring in Gansu, Qinghai, W Sichuan, Xizang, NW Yunnan of China, Bhutan, Sikkim.

Saussurea stella belongs to Saussurea sect. Pseudoeriocoryne in the subgenus Eriocoryne (Lipschitz, 1979). Phylogeny of Saussurea sect. Pseudoeriocoryne was inferred from the chloroplast DNA trnL–F region (Wang and Liu, 2004). Results indicated that Saussurea sect. Pseudoeriocoryne as traditionally defined does not constitute a monophyletic group and that each of its species belongs to separate clades. Two possible explanations are suggested for low sequence divergence, poor resolution of internal clades. The first is rapid radiation and diversification triggered by fast habitat fragmentation due to the recent lifting of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau and the Quaternary climate oscillations. This could have led to rapid morphological divergence while sequences diverged very little, and also caused the convergent acquisition of similar characteristics in unrelated lineages due to similar selection pressures. The second possible explanation is that both introgressive hybridization and reticulate evolution might have caused the transferring of cpDNA sequences between morphologically dissimilar species, thus leading to homogenization of sequences between lineages.

Herbs, stemless, glabrous. Roots dark brown, obconic. Leaves purplish red or near base purplish red or green, concolorous, rosular, stellate, sessile; leaf blade linear-lanceolate, 3-19 cm long, 0.3-1 cm wide, glabrous, basally ovately dilated, margin entire, apically long acuminate from middle. Inflorescences hemispherical, 4-6 cm in diameter. Capitula sessile, numerous, in rosette of leaves. Involucre cylindric, 8-10 mm in diameter. Phyllaries in 5 rows, imbricate, abaxially glabrous; outer phyllaries oblong, ca. 9 mm long, 3 mm wide, margin ciliate, apex rounded; middle phyllaries narrowly oblong, ca. 10 mm long, 5 mm wide, margin ciliate, apex rounded; inner phyllaries linear, ca. 12 mm long, 3 mm wide, apex obtuse. Pappus white, in 2 rows; outer pappus ca. 3 mm, scabrous; inner pappus ca. 1.3 cm. Florets purple, ca. 1.7 cm, tube ca. 1.2 cm, limb ca. 5 mm. Achene cylindric, ca. 5 mm, apex with a membranous coronule.

Growing in grassland on alpine areas, thickets and grassland on mountain slopes, by river marshes, flooded areas; 2000-5400 m.