Chrysanthemum pyrethroides (Kar. & Kir.) B. Fedtsch-Rostit., Turke st. 737. 1915. Richteria pyrethroides Kar. & Kif. in Bull. Soc. Imp. Nat. Misc. 120. 1842. Chrysanthemum richteria Benth. in Gen. Pl. 2: 426. 1873; Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 3: 315. 1881.

Herbs, perennial, erect, laxly villous or woolly, 15 - 30 cm high; branches tufted, short, leafy; rootstock woody. Radical leaves 3 - 10 cm x 1 - 1.5 cm, 2 - 3-pinnatisect; segments oblong-linear, aristate; cauline leaves few, 2 - 7 x 0.3 - 1.5 cm, 2 - 3-pinnatisect. Heads solitary on long, more or less naked, 1 - 3 cm in diam; peduncles arising from the separate tufts or sometimes from the branches. Involucral bracts oblong-lanceolate to elliptic-lanceolate, acute, margins scarious brown purple, 4 - 5 x 1 mm; outermost bracts villous outside. Receptacle spherical, naked. Ray florets female, 1.3 x 0.4 cm; ligule white, obscurely 3-fid, nerved. Disc florets yellow, hermaphrodite, more or less campanulate, 3 x 0.5 mm, limb 4 - 5-fid, lobes ovate, acute. Achenes cylindrical, slightly curved upwards, 3 x 0.5 mm, prominently many-ribbed. Pappus a coriaceous cup, lobed nearly to the base; lobes broadly oblong, 1 x 0.5 mm, scarious brown at the tips,

Fl. & Fr. July - Aug.

Distrib. India: W. Himalayas, generally on rocky slopes between 4500-5500 m. Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.

Pakistan and W. Tibet.

Notes. A highly variable species with regard to indumentum and colour of flowers.