Erect, often stout shrub, up to 1.5 m tall. Branches erect, whitish tomentose when young, sometimes with reddish colour, older becoming less tomentose, with cracking cortex, and the tomentum peeling off, axillary brachyblasts more than half as long as the subtending leaf and sometimes elongated into 1.0-1.5 cm long shoots, leaves persistent for 3 years, older braches with leaf scars, foliage dense. Leaves involute-ericoid, straight to slightly twisted, narrowly lanceolate, 4-7 x 0.8-1.1 mm, white tomentose above, glabrous beneath, acute, mucronate, tips straight or declinate, straight to slightly curved, spreading. Synflorescences 20-30 mm wide, dense, conspicuously branched with capitula arranged in clusters of 5 to 14 capitula. Peduncles (0)2-6 mm long. Capitula 5-flowered, somewhat fused by hairs at the base within clusters. Involucre narrowly cyathiform, apically 2.0-2.5 mm wide. Involucral bracts ±15 in 4 to 5 series, hairy for lower 2/3, gradually longer inwards; outermost ca. half as long as innermost, erect, acute to mucronate, tips erect or slightly bent outwards; outermost bracts narrowly lanceolate, acute, scarious, brown; outer bracts oblanceolate, acute, scarious brown or sometimes reddish on upper parts, becoming more petaloid inwards; inner bracts oblanceolate, mucronate, subpetaloid, pink or light brownish in colour; innermost oblanceolate to oblong, acute to mucronate, petaloid, white. Corolla narrowly cylindrical, 4-5 mm long, purple distally. Cypselas oblong, 1.8-2.1 mm long, 3-veined, brown, papillose. Pappus bristles serrate, apically clavate.
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