Sonchus brachyotus Dc.

Herbs 30-100 cm tall, perennial. Taproot with shoot-bearing lateral roots. Stem usually unbranched below synflorescence, glabrous. Basal and lower stem leaves narrowly elliptic to oblanceolate, 5-20 × 1-3(-5) cm, undivided or rarely pinnatifid to pinnatipartite, glabrous, base semiamplexicaul to shortly auriculately clasping, margin denticulate and often sinuate-dentate, apex rounded, obtuse, or subacute; lateral lobes triangular to narrowly triangular if any. Middle and upper stem leaves similar to lower leaves but smaller. Synflorescence corymbiform, with few to several capitula. Capitula with very many (usually 170-300) florets; peduncle 0.5-7 cm, slender, glabrous or more rarely white tomentose apically and glabrescent. Involucre broadly campanulate, ca. 1.5 cm, glabrous or more rarely basally faintly white tomentose. Phyllaries mostly glabrous, apex acute; outer phyllaries triangular-ovate to lanceolate, 1.5-3 mm wide. Corolla 1.6-2.6 cm. Achene narrowly ellipsoid, 2-4 mm, subcompressed, with 1-3 main ribs on either face, weakly rugose. Pappus 1.1-1.2 cm, persistent. Fl. and fr. May-Sep. 2n = 18.

It is a temperate plant. It grows in poor alkaline soils on dry slopes. In China it grows in alkaline areas between 300-4,000 m above sea level. In Sichuan and Yunnan.

The young ring of leaves are washed, drained mixed with wheat flour, steamed, cooled and seasoned with mashed garlic, chopped onion, salt and vinegar and soysauce. They are eaten with curry. The harvested leaves can be stored for 3-4 days.

Can be grown by seedlings.