Erect annuals to c. 0.5 m high. Leaves mostly lacerately lobate, pinnatisect or sub-bipinnatisect, 3–8 cm long, generally thin following pressing; base of upper-stem leaves often becoming dilated, with long basal segments; margin toothed or denticulate; undivided leaves with l:w ratio 5–8; divided leaves with 3–5 divisions per side. Capitula several to many per stem; calycular bracteoles 4–8, 1–2 mm long, 0.3–0.7 mm wide, peracute to filamentous apically; involucre 3–5 mm long, 2.5–4 mm diam.; bracts mostly c. 13, less often c. 20; broader stereomes of inner bracts mostly 0.7–1.2 mm wide. Ligulate florets c. 8, less often c. 13, fewer than number of involucral bracts; ligule 4–7 mm long. Achenes 1.6–2.5 mm long, 2/5–1/2 length of involucral bracts; olive-brown or dark brown, with papillose hairs obscuring most or all of surface; achenes of ligulate florets reddish, but with surface mostly fully obscured, with hairs longer than those of achenes of disc, clearly exceeding pappus-ring. Pappus not persistent, 2–4 mm long.
Grows in sands and grey clays, beside swamps and billabongs, and on flood plains of eastern central Australia, particularly those in the Lake Eyre basin northeast of Lake Eyre.