A species of Saussurea from the S. obvallata group is described as new to science and illustrated. It occurs in the central and eastern part of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in western China, in the high alpine zone above 4000 m altitude. First chromosome counts for the species resulted in 2n = 32. All previous Chinese records of S. conica, a distinct taxon so far actually known only from Sikkim and Bhutan, can be attributed to the new species.