Herbs 10-22 cm tall, perennial, caespitose. Caudex stout, branched. Stems solitary or few, 2-4 mm in diam., erect, simple. Rosette and lower stem leaves petiolate; leaf blade narrowly elliptic to oblong, 4-10(-20) × 1-2 cm, both surfaces green, blackening when dry, and subglabrous, base attenuate, margin sinuate-dentate to denticulate, apex acute. Middle and upper stem leaves sessile, narrowly ovate to linear and boat-shaped, 1.5-5 × 0.3-1 cm, both surfaces dark purple, abaxially sparsely pilose near base, base semiamplexicaul, margin entire, apex acute to acuminate. Uppermost stem leaves merging into phyllaries, abaxially villous. Capitulum 1(or 2), subsessile. Involucre broadly obconic, 2-2.5 cm in diam. Phyllaries in 4 or 5 rows, blackish purple, densely villous, apex acute to acuminate; outer phyllaries triangular-ovate, 6-7 × 2.5-3.5 mm; middle phyllaries narrowly ovate to elliptic, 8-10 × 1-2 mm; inner phyllaries linear, 10-12 × 1-1.5 mm. Receptacle bristles 2-4 mm. Corolla purple, 1.2-1.3 cm, tube 6-7 mm, limb 6-7 mm, lobes 3.5-4 mm. Achene cylindric, 3-4 mm, smooth. Pappus straw-colored; outer bristles 1-3 mm; inner bristles 0.9-1.1 cm. Fl. Aug, fr. Sep-Oct.
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