Herbs 5-45 cm tall, perennial. Stems solitary or several, erect, simple or apically few branched, sparsely villous. Basal and lower stem leaves petiolate; petiole to 12 cm; leaf blade narrowly elliptic, 2-13 × 0.5-1.5(-2) cm, both surfaces green and sparsely villous, base attenuate, margin denticulate and ciliate, apex acute to acuminate. Middle stem leaves sessile, narrowly elliptic to linear, smaller, base semiamplexicaul. Upper stem leaves linear. Capitula 2 or 3(-6), in corymbiform synflorescence or sometimes solitary, pedunculate. Involucre obconic, 1-1.5 cm in diam. Phyllaries in 4 or 5 rows, blackish purple, glabrous or subglabrous, apex acute to acuminate; outer phyllaries narrowly ovate-elliptic, 10-13 × 2-3 mm; middle phyllaries narrowly triangular, 13-17 × 2-2.5 mm; inner phyllaries narrowly elliptic to linear, 17-20 × 1-2 mm. Receptacle bristles 5-7 mm. Corolla blackish to bluish purple, 1.4-1.5 cm, tube 6-7 mm, limb 7-8 mm, lobes 3.5-4 mm. Achene brown or gray with black spots, ellipsoid, 3-3.5 mm, glabrous. Pappus apically white, basally straw-colored to pale brown; outer bristles 3-5 mm, scabrid; inner bristles 13-15 mm. Fl. and fr. Jul-Oct.
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