Herbs to 60 cm tall, perennial. Stem solitary, erect, simple, basally covered with dark brown remains of old leaf sheaths. Lower stem leaves ca. 2, elliptic, lyrate-pinnately parted, abaxially pale green and sparsely arachnoid lanate, adaxially green and pilose, base auriculate-amplexicaul, margin irregularly sinuate-dentate; lateral lobes oblong, 2.5-3.5 × 1.2-1.5 cm; terminal lobe ca. 10 × 8 cm. Middle and upper stem leaves ca. 2, narrowly ovate-elliptic, 7-14 × 2.5-6 cm, base auriculate, margin irregularly dentate, apex acuminate and mucronate. Capitula ca. 5, clustered in a hemispheric synflorescence, subsessile. Involucre ovoid, 9-10 mm in diam. Phyllaries in ca. 4 rows, pale yellowish green, apically and near margin dark purple, pilose, apex long acuminate; outer phyllaries broadly ovate-elliptic; inner phyllaries narrowly oblong. Receptacle bristles ca. 4 mm. Corolla purplish red, 1.1-1.2 cm, tube 4.5-5 mm, limb 3.5-4 mm, lobes ca. 2 mm. Achene cylindric, ca. 2 mm, smooth, glabrous, apex with a denticulate crown. Pappus brown; outer bristles short, scabrid; inner bristles plumose. Fl. and fr. Jul-Aug.
Home