Herbs 20-90 cm tall, perennial. Rhizomes very short. Stem solitary, erect, apically branched and glabrous or with white, stiff, subulate, and partly glandular hairs. Basal and lower leaves with winged clasping petiole to 10(-15) cm; leaf blade narrowly obovate to elliptic, 4.5-16 × 1.5-6 cm, pinnatipartite to pinnatisect or lyrately so, glabrous, margin entire or with few larger teeth; lateral lobes 2-7 pairs, lanceolate, elliptic, or linear, recurved, apex acute to obtuse; terminal lobe triangular-ovate, ovate-sagittate, linear, or lanceolate, apex acute to obtuse. Middle and upper stem leaves shortly petiolate or sessile; leaf blade elliptic to lanceolate, smaller, narrower, and less divided than lower leaves, base sagittately to auriculately clasping. Synflorescence paniculiform, with numerous capitula. Capitula with 10-12 florets. Involucre narrowly cylindric, (8-)9-10(-12) × 3-4 mm. Phyllaries glabrous or with subulate hairs, apex acute to obtuse; outer phyllaries triangular-ovate to linear-lanceolate, longest ca. 3/4 as long as inner phyllaries; inner phyllaries 8. Florets blue to purplish blue, rarely white. Achene 4-5 mm; body dark reddish to blackish brown, ellipsoid, compressed, with broad lateral ribs; beak greenish to brownish, 1-1.5 mm, slender. Pappus double, outer hairs ca. 0.2 mm, bristles ca. 7 mm. Fl. and fr. Jul-Sep.
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