Perennials, 5–30 cm (usually forming dense colonies); rhizomatous, fibrous-rooted, sometimes with branching caudices. Stems pro-cumbent to decumbent-ascending, hirsuto-villous or nearly glabrous, usually minutely glandular. Leaves basal (usually persistent) and cauline; basal blades broadly obovate to spatulate, 20–130(–150) × 10–30(–50) mm, cauline little reduced distally (fleshy, bases sometimes subclasping), margins entire or with 2–4 pairs of shallow teeth, faces glabrous or hirsute, eglandular. Heads 1–15. Involucres 7–13 × 15–35 mm. Phyllaries in 3–4 series, sparsely to densely villous (cross walls not colored), minutely glandular. Ray florets 80–165; corollas white to purple or blue, 8–15 mm, laminae coiling. Disc corollas 4.5–5.5 mm. Cypselae 1.8–2.4 mm, 2–4(–6)-nerved, faces sparsely strigose; pappi: outer of setae, inner of 20–30 bristles. 2n = 18.
Sea bluffs and sandy beaches under the influence of water. Coastal bluffs, dunes, and beaches, usually forming dense colonies, from sea level to 30 metres.
Home