Launaea acaulis (Roxb.) Babcock ex Kerr. in Craib. Fl. Sinm. Enum. 2: 299. 1936. Prenanthes acaulis Roxb., Fl. Ind. ed. 2, 3: 403. 1832. Crepis acaulis Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 3: 396. 1881.

Herbs, perennial with long woody, cylindric rhizome; stems 4 - 18 cm high, simple, often with many flowering branches from the base, sometimes solitary. Leaves chiefly radical, linear or linear-laneeolate or sometimes oblanceolate, spathulate, very narrowly obovate, 3 - 16 x 4 - 1 cm. Heads cylindric, subpaniculate, 1.5 - 2.3 x 5.6 cm, erect, on small, slender, bracteolate peduncle. Outer involucral bracts obovate or linear-lanceolate, 2 - 4 x 1 - 1.5 mm, glabrous, membranous towards margins; inner linear or linear-lanceolate, 12 - 14 x 1.5 - 2.3 mm, thickened at the base, glabrous. Ligules yellow. Stigma pinkish or pale yellowish, bifid. Achenes pale yellowish, darker between the ribs, oblanceolate, ellipsoid, subcompressed, 5 - 5.6 mm long, contracted at both ends, strongly ribbed. Pappus silvery white, 7 - 9 mm long, simple, soft, longer than achenes.

Fl. & Fr. March - Sept.

Distrib. India: On open dry slopes, fields and waste lands up to 1000 m. Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, W. Bengal, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh.

Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal and Iran.