Low herb, the stems solitary to several, decumbent to erect, 0-25 cm. tall; basal leaves oblanceolate, the blade 3-8 cm. long, 5-18 mm. broad, long-cuneate, obtuse, coarsely serrate and often incised or lobed, the petiole broadly winged, 0.5-2 cm. long; cauline leaves few, the upper sessile, often parted; inflorescence trifurcate or weakly cymose, the heads few, 7-10 mm. long, 5-7 mm. broad; bracts 8-10, 8-20 mm. long, 2-6 mm. broad, spinose-serrate apically, green or blue beneath and white above, usually exceeding the head, the bractlets subulate, 2-3 mm. long, slightly exceeding the fruit, the coma of 1-3 bractlets 2-5 mm. long, occasionally obsolete; calyx-teeth ovate, obtuse, mucronate; styles shorter than the calyx; fruit ovoid, 1.5-2 mm. long.
Moist or dry meadows, often in alpine regions, frequently on dry rocky slopes or in pastures, sometimes on limestone, at elevations of 1,000-3,400 metres but most frequent at the higher elevations.
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