玉山山蘿蔔（Taiwan Scabiosa）

Description:

Perennial herb, pubescent to glabrate, the root thick; stems 10-20 cm long, erect, sparsely branched. Leaves semiamplexicaule, linear-lanceolate pinnatisect to lacerate, 5-12 cm long, 5-6 mm broad, the lobes ovate, incised or doubly cleft into linear segments, the segments serrate; cauline leaves opposite, smaller, 4-5 cm long. Heads terminal, depressed at anthesis, 3.5-4 cm across, long-pedunculate, the peduncles 5-6 cm long; involucral bracts 3-seriate, herbaceous, free, sublanceolate, the outer 15 mm long, the inner smaller; receptacle bracts spatulate, 5 mm long; calyx-limb with 5 divergent setae; corolla blue, the marginal ray flowers elongate; stamens 4; styles filiform. Fruit fusiform, about 3.5 mm long, glabrous, surrounded by an 8-ribbed, 4-lobed pilose involucel.

Habitat:

Endemic in Taiwan. Grassy slopes and rocky ridges on exposed situations on high mountains at 2,000-3,600 m.

Notes:

This cute flower only bloom in summer.