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The Hooker's inula (Inula hookeri) belongs to Asteraceae (the Aster family). It is a perennial herb that is distributed around the Himalayas. It grows on slopes, shrublands, and grasslands at elevations of 2400 to 3600 m, reaching a height of 60 to 75 cm. The leaves are elliptic-lanceolate, with short hairs and glandular hairs on the surface. The leaf margins are finely serrated. It blooms yellow flower heads from July to October. The flower heads consist of numerous needle-like yellow ray floret, with a cluster of raised tubular flowers at the center. The involucre is hemispherical, 18-40 mm in diameter, with three or more rows of involucral scales that are brown and hair-like. The fruit is an elliptic achene. In Chinese, it is called "鏽毛旋覆花" (xiu mao xuan fu hua).
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