Annual, biennial or short-lived perennial herb or subshrub, 0.5–1.5 m high, viscid and aromatic (the smell range described from pleasant to foetid); stems 1–several, branched, terete, densely glandular and hairy; taproot 0.5–1.5 cm in diameter.. Leaves alternate, distant to dense, elliptic to narrowly lanceolate, occasionally narrowly to broadly pinnatisect, 1.5–11.5 cm long, 0.4–3.5 cm wide, attenuate at the base and often semi-amplexicaul at the very base, the margins sinuate-dentate with 2–10 teeth on each margin, with mucronate teeth, the distal leaves sometimes entire, the apex acute to obtuse and mucronate, densely glandular and hairy.. Capitula 5–9 mm long (to 12 mm in fruit), erect at anthesis, nodding in fruit, solitary or more often in loose, lax corymbs or racemes; capitulum stalk 1–14 cm long, densely glandular and hairy, usually with one or a few linear bracts up to 5 mm long; capitula stalk 1–5 cm long; phyllaries 10–14, ± 1-seriate, equal, lanceolate, 2–6 mm long, 1–1.5 mm wide, acute, green, densely hairy except for the scarious margins, reflexed in old capitula.. Ray florets 5–12 mm long, 1.5–3 mm wide, golden yellow to lemon yellow; disc florets 10–40, 3–3.5 mm long, yellow.. Achenes slightly obovoid, 6–11 mm long, green, sparsely hairy, 3-angled, the distal windows ± 1 mm long, 3-winged, the wings membranous, 1–3 mm wide and tinged with reddish or purple.. Fig. 113 (page 534) & 115 (page 537, fruit).
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