Herbs or subshrubs, 10-30 cm tall, perennial, caespitose. Roots fibrous. Caudex much branched, with several leaf rosettes and flowering shoots. Stem erect or ascending, simple or apically branched, woody at base. Lower and middle stem leaves petiolate; petiole ca. 2 cm; leaf blade narrowly obovate to oblong, 3-7 × 2-2.5 cm, pinnately lobed to pinnatisect, both surfaces green and gland-dotted; lateral lobes 2-5 pairs, triangular-ovate, margin entire or dentate, apex acute to obtuse. Upper stem leaves sessile, gradually smaller upward on stem, pinnately lobed or pinnatisect. Capitula 1-5, solitary or in a corymbiform or paniculiform synflorescence, pedunculate. Involucre campanulate, 7-10 mm in diam. Phyllaries in ca. 5 rows, green or purple, glabrous or sparsely arachnoid, gland-dotted, apex acute; outer phyllaries ovate, 5-6 × 1.5-2.5 mm; middle phyllaries elliptic, 6-9 × ca. 2 mm; inner phyllaries linear-oblong, 9-10 × 1-1.5 mm. Receptacle bristles subulate, 5-6 mm. Corolla purple, 1.2-1.4 cm, gland-dotted, tube 5-6 mm, limb 7-8 mm, lobes ca. 3 mm. Achene ca. 4 mm, ribbed, glabrous, apex with a short crown. Pappus white; outer bristles 3-5 mm; inner bristles 1-1.2 cm. Fl. and fr. Jul-Aug.
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