''Saussurea laniceps'' (common name cotton-headed snow lotus, ) is a rare

snow lotus ''Saussurea'' is a genus of about 300 species of flowering plants in the tribe Cardueae within the family Asteraceae, native to cool temperate and arctic regions of East Asia, Europe, and North America, with the highest diversity in alpine habit ...

found only in the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

including southwest

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

(in

Sikkim Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Sil ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

and in

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of t ...

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

and

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the ...

in China). It might also occur in northern

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

. It grows above about altitude on alpine scree slopes. It is reputed to have

medicinal properties Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is "the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients". The aim of EBM is to integrate the experience of the clinician, the values of t ...

according to

traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logical mechanism of acti ...

. Among the snow lotus, Saussurea laniceps is proven to be more effective for its anti-inflammatory and anti-nociceptive effects.

Description and life cycle

''Saussurea laniceps'' is herbaceous plant that grows tall. It is

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also widel ...

and monocarpic: individual plants grow slowly (for 7–10 years or more) and die after flowering. Reproductive plants produce a single enlarged

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are forme ...

with 6–36 flower heads. Producing seed requires pollinators. ''Saussurea laniceps'' is pollinated by two generalist

bumblebee A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus ''Bombus'', part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only Extant taxon, extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct r ...

species, '' Bombus rufofasticatus'' and '' Bombus festivus'', that appear to specialize on ''Saussurea laniceps'' when it is flowering. Its reproductive success does not appear to be limited by pollen availability.

Exploitation and its consequences

The whole plant is used medicinally, and the species is threatened in many regions by over-exploitation. Preferential collection of the larger plants of the species for medicinal use and souvenirs appears to be causing selection to favour shorter plants in areas that are heavily harvested. Plants in an area that is protected are about 9 cm taller than plants in the harvest areas. Another closely related plant that is not as desirable to collectors, '' Saussurea medusa'', shows no height differences between the protected area and the harvest area. The height differences in the plant may have unknown effects such as reduction of seed production due to shorter stalks but no studies have been done to ascertain the effects.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7427610 laniceps Flora of China Flora of Sikkim Flora of Tibet Flora of Yunnan Flora of Sichuan