Herbs 2-8[-20] cm tall, perennial, almost stemless or shortly stemmed. Caudex 2-4(-6) mm in diam., long creeping, few branched. Stem solitary, simple, erect to ascending, 1.5-3 mm in diam. Lower and middle stem leaves petiolate; petiole 0.8-4.5 cm; leaf blade ovate to elliptic, 1.5-7 × 0.5-3 cm, both surfaces grayish green, gland-dotted, and arachnoid, base cuneate, attenuate, or subtruncate, margin denticulate, apex acute to acuminate. Uppermost stem leaves linear, subtending synflorescence. Capitula 2-10[-20], in a dense to lax clustered corymbiform synflorescence, subsessile to shortly pedunculate. Involucre obconical to narrowly campanulate, 5-13 mm in diam. Phyllaries in 3 or 4 rows, straw-colored and sometimes tinged with purple, arachnoid tomentose to glabrescent, apex acuminate to subacute; outer phyllaries triangular-ovate, ca. 3 mm wide; middle phyllaries narrowly ovate-elliptic; inner phyllaries narrowly elliptic-linear. Receptacle naked or with few subulate bristles. Corolla pale reddish purple, 1.1-1.6 cm, glandular, tube 5-8 mm, limb 5-8 mm, lobes to 5 mm. Achene brown, 3-5 mm, usually gland-dotted. Pappus white to brownish; outer bristles 1-3 mm; inner bristles 1.1-1.4 cm. Fl. and fr. Aug-Sep.
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