Annual or perennial herb, erect or decumbent, 4–90(-150) cm high, aromatic/ pungent; stems woody at the base and up to 1 cm in diameter, simple or weakly branched, angled to striate, shortly hirsute to subglabrous.. Leaves dark green and paler beneath, membranous, sessile or (in the basal leaves) contracted into a winged base, the blade obovate, oblanceolate, spatulate, lyrate or pinnatifid with 2–3 proximal lobes and a larger terminal lobe, in outline 1–10 cm long, 0.2–3.5 cm wide, the very base broadly semi-amplexicaul, the margins coarsely dentate with acute or mucronate teeth, the apex acute or obtuse, pilose to hispid on both surfaces.. Capitula globose to oblong-globose, 5–9 mm long, in lax terminal panicles or solitary on up to 10 cm long almost leafless branches; stalks of individual heads to 3 cm long with subulate bracts 1.5–2 mm long; phyllaries 6–8, ovate to oblong-elliptic, 1.3–2.5 mm long, 0.5–1 mm wide, the margins scarious and fimbriate, the apex obtuse, sparsely pubescent, glandular; receptacle club-shaped, 3–5 mm long, tuberculate.. Outer florets white to yellow with (at anthesis) purplish tinge on the lobes, very many, in several rows, on 0.1–0.2 mm stalks, tube with a narrow cylindrical base but widening towards the mouth, 0.2–0.4 mm long, 3–4 triangular lobes 0.2–0.5 mm long, sparsely glandular; style purple-red, 0.4–0.8 mm long; inner florets many but fewer than outer ones, on stalks slightly shorter than outer ones, white to yellow with reddish to purple tinge on lobes, tube glandular, 0.7–1.2 mm long, lobes 0.3–0.7 mm long; anthers 0.5–0.6 mm long, with obtuse base and triangular distal appendage; style ± 1 mm long.. Achenes yellow-green, obovoid, dorsiventrally flattened with indistinct paler marginal veins, 1.3–1.8 mm long, 0.4–0.8 mm wide, 0.2–0.3 mm thick, glabrous but for the base and apex which are densely glandular; pappus absent or an indistinct low ring.
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An aromatic erect or straggling branched herb 1-3 ft. or more high
Spherical red-purple to mauve flower-heads
More or less pubescent stems and leaves
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