Youngia japonica var. formosana

Youngia japonica subsp. formosana is an endemic subspecies of Youngia japonica in Taiwan. It is often confused with another endemic subspecies of Youngia, Y. japonica subsp. monticola. Collection records of this species dated back to 1906, but its taxonomy rank was not clarified until 2012. It is now known that this species is distributed primarily in the western coastline of Kaohsiung’s Shou-shan Mountain, Chihou Mountain and Liuqiu Island of Pingtung. The species normally grows on coastal coral-reef limestone rocks, and is morphologically distinctive from other subspecies by having a smaller plant, thicker and velvet-like textured leaves, and reddish-brown colored achene. The 2017 Red List of Vascular Plants in Taiwan evaluated the threat level of this species as “Least Concern” (LC)....read more on Wikipedia.