Rhizome thickish, woody. Stems 50-100 cm, lower parts repent or ascending, woody, persistent, stems with ascending branches, thickish, channeled and angulate, herbaceous, arachnoid hairy, and with capitate-stalked glandular hairs, lower parts usually glabrous, usually with tomentose axillary or short branches, densely leafy. Lower leaves caducous and lost by anthesis; middle leaves spreading, linear, linear-lanceolate, or oblong, 3-8 × 0.5-1(-1.5) cm, base attenuate, decurrent on stem and becoming a 1.5-3 mm wide or cuneate wing, margin flat or undulate, apex acute, with long cusp; upper leaves small; uppermost leaves linear or subulate, acuminate, bractlike; all leaves thin, with capitate-stalked glandular hairs or arachnoid hairy on both surfaces, or only abaxially or glandular abaxially, 3-veined. Capitula considerably numerous, dense, compound corymbiform; peduncle short or ca. 3 mm. Involucre subcampanulate, 4-5 × 3-4 mm; phyllaries 6-seriate; outer phyllaries light brownish, ovate, ca. 2 mm; middle ones white, elliptic or spatulate-elliptic, ca. 4 mm, less than 1.5 mm in female florets, apex rounded; innermost ones white, subspatulate, ca. 4 mm, with a claw ca. 2/3 of full length. Receptacle chaffy hairy. Center of predominantly female capitula with female florets and 1 or 2 male florets; predominantly male capitula with male florets only. Pappus slightly longer than corolla, incrassate at tip of apex in male florets, dentate. Achene oblong, ca. 1 mm, hairy and glandular. Fl. Jul-Oct, fr. Sep-Oct.
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