Saussurea amara(L.) DC.

saussurea

WFO wfo-0000062939 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Saussurea amara, photographed by Yurii Basov
fig. a Yurii Basov, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-18 / obs. 198607968
Saussurea amara, photographed by Yurii Basov
fig. b Yurii Basov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 95366129
Saussurea amara, photographed by Нурхайдарова Татьяна
fig. c Нурхайдарова Татьяна, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 92932208
Saussurea amara, photographed by Svyatoslav Knyazev
fig. d Svyatoslav Knyazev, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 47925375
Saussurea amara, photographed by Svyatoslav Knyazev
fig. e Svyatoslav Knyazev, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 43623282
Saussurea amara, photographed by Yurii Basov
fig. f Yurii Basov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 199279304
Saussurea amara, photographed by Yurii Basov
fig. g Yurii Basov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 199278883
Saussurea amara, photographed by Юлия
fig. h Юлия, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 152815630

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 29 botanical countries

Regions where Saussurea amara is native: Altay, Amur, Buryatiya, China North-Central, China Southeast, Chita, Inner Mongolia, Irkutsk, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Krasnoyarsk, Manchuria, Mongolia, Primorye, Qinghai, Tadzhikistan, Tuva, Uzbekistan, West Siberia, Xinjiang, Yakutiya, Vietnam, Baltic States, Belarus, Central European Russia, East European Russia, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Ukraine AltayAmurBuryatiyaChina North-CentralChina SoutheastChitaInner MongoliaIrkutskKazakhstanKirgizstanKrasnoyarskManchuriaMongoliaPrimoryeQinghaiTadzhikistanTuvaUzbekistanWest SiberiaXinjiangYakutiyaVietnamBaltic StatesBelarusCentral European RussiaEast European RussiaNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaUkraine
Native distribution of Saussurea amara, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Amur AMU
Buryatiya BRY
China North-Central CHN
China Southeast CHS
Chita CTA
Inner Mongolia CHI
Irkutsk IRK
Kazakhstan KAZ
Kirgizstan KGZ
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Manchuria CHM
Mongolia MON
Primorye PRM
Qinghai CHQ
Tadzhikistan TZK
Tuva TVA
Uzbekistan UZB
West Siberia WSB
Xinjiang CHX
Yakutiya YAK
Baltic States BLT EUROPE
Belarus BLR
Central European Russia RUC
East European Russia RUE
North European Russia RUN
Northwest European Russia RUW
Ukraine UKR
Vietnam VIE ASIA-TROPICAL

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 19 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Saussurea amara f. amara
  • Saussurea amara f. microcephala Franch.
  • Saussurea amara var. amara
  • Saussurea amara var. glomerata (Poir.) Trautv.
  • Saussurea glomerata Poir.
  • Saussurea glomerata f. alata F.H.Chen
  • Saussurea glomerata f. glomerata
  • Saussurea glomerata var. chinensis F.H.Chen
  • Saussurea glomerata var. glomerata
  • Saussurea gmelinii Herder
  • Saussurea japonica f. leucocephala (Nakai & Kitag.) Nakai & Kitag.
  • Saussurea microcephala (Franch.) Franch. ex F.B.Forbes & Hemsl.
  • Saussurea microcephala f. leucocephala Nakai & Kitag.
  • Saussurea microcephala var. aptera Nakai & Kitag.
  • Saussurea microcephala var. pteroclada Nakai & Kitag.
  • Saussurea tenuicaulis Y.Ling
  • Serratula amara L.
  • Theodorea amara (L.) Cass.
  • Theodorea glomerata (Poir.) Soják

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.