Perennials, 20–120+ cm (caudices woody). Stems strigose or puberulent to glabrate. Leaves opposite or alternate; blades elliptic, lance-linear, lance-ovate, linear, or ovate, 10–90 × 2–28 mm, margins ciliate to 1/4 their lengths, hairs mostly less than 0.5 mm, faces strigose, abaxial often gland-dotted. Heads 6–30+. Peduncles 1–15 cm, lengths 1/20–1/2 leafy portions of stems. Involucres 6–14 mm diam. Phyllaries 4–8 mm. Paleae oblong, 5–6 mm, cuspidate. Ray florets 5–14; laminae oval to oblong, 7–20 mm (gland-dotted along veins and abaxially). Disc florets 50+; corollas 3–4 mm. Cypselae black or gray-striate, 1.2–3 mm.
Dry open areas on foothills and mountains, well up towards the timberline. Rocky slopes and valleys, open woods, roadsides at elevations of 1500-3200 metres.