Herbs 2-6 cm tall, perennial, monocarpic, stemless or shortly stemmed. Taproot 1-3 mm in diam. Caudex densely covered with fibrous remains of petioles. Rosette leaves shortly petiolate; petiole purplish, basally widened; leaf blade narrowly triangular-ovate to linear, 2-10 × 0.2-1.5 cm, both surfaces green but purple in basal part, glabrous, pinnately lobed to pinnately divided, margin entire or sparsely dentate, apex acute and mucronate; lateral lobes 5-10 pairs, narrowly elliptic to linear, 1-4(-10) mm, recurved or patent. Capitula 8-40, clustered in a corymbiform to hemispheric synflorescence 2-8(-15) cm in diam., subsessile or on a peduncle to 3 cm. Involucre cylindric, 5-7 mm in diam. Phyllaries in ca. 4 rows, glabrous, margin apically ciliate, apex obtuse; outer phyllaries elliptic, 4-7 × 1.5-2 mm; middle and inner phyllaries oblong, 6-8 × 1.5-2 mm. Receptacle bristles 1-2 mm. Corolla rose to bluish purple, 8-11 mm, tube 3.5-6 mm, limb 4-6 mm, lobes 2-3 mm. Achene ivory-colored with a dark wavy pattern, cylindric to obconic, 2-3 mm, wrinkled, glabrous, apex with a lacerate crown to 2 mm. Pappus pale brown; outer bristles 2-4 mm; inner bristles (6-)8-10 mm. Fl. and fr. Jul-Sep. 2n = 32*.
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