Erect annual or perennial herb, 0.4–2 m tall, branched distally, aromatic; stems puberulous to short-pubescent, winged, the wings 1–4 mm wide and puberulous.. Leaves lanceolate, narrowly ovate or narrowly obovate, 2–12 cm long, 0.7–5 cm wide, base tapering into the decurrent wings, margins serrate or serrulate with callose teeth, apex obtuse and apiculate, puberulous to short-pubescent and sometimes scabridulous, glandular.. Capitula 9–14 mm long in large leafy panicles to 40 cm high and 20 cm wide, but sometimes much fewer; stalks of individual capitula straight or curved, 0.1–1.3 cm long, pubescent and glandular; phyllaries many in several series, the outer herbaceous, often recurved, ovate to linear with an ovate appendage, 2–8.5 mm long, 1.2–2 mm wide, densely puberulous and usually glandular on both surfaces, acute, the inner linear, stiff and papery, white, often purplish or mauve distally, 6–8 mm long, 0.3–0.6 mm wide, attenuate, glabrous or with some hairs distally, the middle phyllaries linear and glabrous proximally and with a hairy appendage distally; receptacle flat, areolate.. Florets pink, mauve or purple, scented; outer florets many (> 100), tube filiform, 4–5.8 mm long, minutely toothed at the apex; style 4.2–6.8 mm long with glabrous branches; inner florets ± 30–40, with tube 5–6.3 mm long, hardly widening, lobes 0.3–0.6 mm long, glandular; anthers 2–2.6 mm long, with short tails and a short ovate-triangular appendage; style pink, 6.5 mm long, with short papillose branches.. Achenes cylindrical, 1.2–1.5 mm long, ribbed, appressed-hairy; pappus of many white barbellate bristles 5–6 mm long.
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