FoI
Showy Inula
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Showy Inula
ative Photo: Thingnam Girija
Common name: Showy Inula
Botanical name: Inula barbata    Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Showy Inula is an attractive Himalayan plant, with golden-yellow flower-heads at branch-ends and solitary, 4-6 cm across, borne on erect leafy stems. Ray-florets are narrow, very numerous, up to 2 cm long, 3-lobed at tip; involucral bracts with bristly-haired teeth, the outer leafy and as long as the florets, the inner shorter linear, all bristly-haired. Earlier it was believed to be Inula grandiflora, but now it is assumed to be a species separate from that. Leaves are oblong-lanceshaped pointed, 5-7.5 cm, lobed at base and with glandular teeth and bristly hairs on margin. Stem is unbranched, leafy throughout, 30-45 cm. Showy Inula is found in the Himalayas, from Pakistan to C. Nepal and W. Asia, at altitudes of 2000-3300 m. Flowering: July-September. A postal stamp was issued by the Indian Postal Department to commemorate this flower.

Identification credit: Tabish Photographed on Govindghat-Ghangria trail, Uttarakhand & en-route Shakati - GHNP, Himachal Pradesh.

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