Herbs 3-5 cm tall, perennial, stemless, caespitose. Caudex stout, usually branched at ground level, with several sterile and flowering leaf rosettes. Leaves petiolate; petiole purple, to 5 mm; leaf blade narrowly obovate or narrowly elliptic, 1-3 × 0.4-1 cm, abaxially glaucous and sparsely villous but glabrescent, adaxially green and villous, base cuneate-attenuate, margin entire, apex obtuse to rounded and with a short mucro. Capitulum solitary, in center of leaf rosette, sessile. Involucre campanulate, 0.8-1.2 cm in diam. Phyllaries in ca. 4 rows, purple and yellowish to brownish villous in distal part, apex usually obtuse; outer phyllaries ovate, 6-7 × 3-4 mm; middle phyllaries narrowly ovate-elliptic, 7-11 × 2-3 mm, apex acute to obtuse; inner phyllaries narrowly elliptic to linear, 11-15 × 1.5-3 mm, apex acute. Receptacle bristles subulate, ca. 1.5 mm. Corolla purple, 1.6-1.7 cm, gland-dotted, tube 7-10 mm, limb 6-10 mm, lobes 5-6 mm. Achene cylindric, 4-5 mm, wrinkled, glabrous, apically with a crenulate rim. Pappus straw-colored; outer bristles few, 3-6 mm, plumose, often lacking; inner bristles 1-1.5 cm. Fl. and fr. Aug-Oct.
Home