Herbs 20-90 cm tall, perennial. Stem solitary, erect, apically branched, winged, sparsely lanate or glabrescent; wing sinuate-dentate. Basal and lower stem leaves long petiolate; petiole to 7 cm; leaf blade narrowly ovate-elliptic, 3-12 × 0.4-3 cm, runcinate-pinnately lobed or dentate, abaxially grayish white and arachnoid, adaxially green and sparsely strigose, base decurrent, apex acuminate; lateral lobes 3-6 pairs, triangular-ovate, margin dentate. Middle and upper stem leaves sessile, narrowly ovate-elliptic, gradually smaller upward on stem, base decurrent, margin coarsely dentate. Capitula numerous, in corymbiform synflorescence, pedunculate. Involucre ovoid, 5-8 mm in diam. Phyllaries in 5 or 6 rows, brown but black near margin, leathery, sericeous, apex acute to obtuse; outer phyllaries ovate, ca. 3 mm; middle phyllaries narrowly ovate-elliptic; inner phyllaries linear. Corolla purple, 8-10 mm. Achene ca. 3 mm, glabrous. Pappus pale yellowish brown; outer bristles scabrid. Fl. and fr. Jul-Oct.
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