Herbs or low subshrubs to 5 dm tall, upright, sometimes from runners, single-stemmed or many-branched, lignescent; branches terete, ascending, often striate, villous to tomentose. Leaves lanceolate to ovate to obovate, acute at the apex, cuneate at the base, marginally entire to pauciserrate (4-6 pairs of teeth), 1.5-5(-6) cm long, 0.5-4 cm broad, glandular punctate and villosulous on both surfaces, lateral veins ascending, 3-6 pairs, inconspicuous. Inflorescences sessile, solitary, terminating the branches. Heads discoid with many florets; involucre broadly hemispherical, the outer involucral bracts 6-15, foliaceous, curved and spreading, the inner involucral bracts scariose, 4-6-seriate, narrowly deltoid, apically acute to obtuse, spinescent, the awns 1-4 mm long, awns and involucral bracts ciliolate; receptacle flat, alveolate, naked; corolla tube narrowly cylindric, expanding slightly at the apex, purple, 5-7 mm long, 5-lobed, the lobes linear to lanceolate, 1-2 mm long; stamens 5, the anthers 1-1.5 mm long, apically acute, obtusely sagittate at base; styles 6-7 mm long, bilobed, the lobes puberulous, 1-2 mm long, acute. Achenes narrowly turbinate, weakly ribbed, 1-2 mm long, ultimately epappose; pappus of deciduous filiform scales 1-2 mm long, antrorsely puberulent.
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Annual herb, 50–100 cm high, dichotomously branched, procumbent or suberect to erect, basally ±woody with slightly ridged, strigose internodes. Leaves shortly petiolate or sessile, elliptic to obovate, (1.5–) 2–6 (–7) cm long, (0.6–) 1–3 cm wide, basally cuneate to attenuate, with 10–18 pairs of acute to acuminate, minutely mucronate teeth on margins, obtuse, glandular-punctate. Capitula solitary, (1.8–) 2–2.5 cm diam.; peduncles 2–7 cm long; involucre ±campanulate, to c. 12 mm long; bracts multiseriate, glandular; outermost bracts foliaceous, oblong-lanceolate, 12–25 mm long, green; inner bracts ±elliptic, 5–7 mm long, purplish, apically ciliate to fimbriate. Florets mauve to purple; corolla 5–8 mm long, with sessile and stipitate glands. Achenes ±cylindrical, 1.5–2.5 mm long, 8–10-ribbed, glabrous. Pappus bristles 1.5–3 mm long, stramineous, densely pectinate.
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