Shrubs or woody herbs to 2 m tall with few branches; stems reddish-brown, terete with slight striations, essentially glabrous. Leaves opposite; blades elliptical, to 10 cm long and 4 cm wide, the base cuneate to acuminate, the margins serrate to distal 1/2 to 2/3, the apex acute to short-acuminate, the surfaces glabrate, the venation trinervate from at or near the base, the veins prominent; petioles mostly 3-5 mm long. Inflorescence a corymbose panicle to 10 cm wide and 5 cm high, the ultimate branches 1-5 mm long, glabrous. Heads ca. 1 cm high with 15-20 florets; involucral bracts ca. 25-30, glabrate, imbricate, oblong, with 4-5 costae, the apex rounded; receptacle naked; corolla pale lavender, ca. 5 mm long, tubular. Achenes ca. 3.5 mm long, prismatic, 5-ribbed, the ribs with short bristles; pappus of ca. 25-30 scabrous bristles, ca. 5 mm long, the apical cells acute.
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