Perennial woody herb or weak-stemmed shrub 75–150(–240) cm high; stems erect or occasionally scrambling, branched, glandular, leafy, viscid, disagreeably aromatic.. Leaves sessile, oblong-lanceolate to lanceolate, 5–9 cm long, 0.4–2.4 cm wide, base somewhat auriculate and semi-amplexicaul, margins crenate to coarsely sinuate-serrate, bidentate or lobulate, apex obtuse to acute, apiculate, crowded, green, viscid, glandular-hairy, marcescent when old.. Capitula radiate, erect, ± 6–20 in lax to dense terminal corymbs; stalks of the individual capitula glandular-hairy, viscid; involucre 7.5–11 mm long, 4–7 mm in diameter; bracts of calyculus 1–4, lax, narrow, lanceolate, 2.5–6 mm long, acute, glandular-hairy; phyllaries 8–14, deep dull purple, 7–10 mm long, densely glandular.. Ray florets 12–14, violet, bright to pale purple or mauve, corolla tube 3.5–4.5 mm long, glabrous, rays 8–14 mm long, 3–4.5 mm wide, 4–5-veined; disc florets purple to dark red, corolla 7–8 mm long, tube expanded from below the middle, glabrous, lobes 1 mm long.. Achenes 3.2–3.5 mm long, ribbed, shortly sparsely hairy; pappus 7.5–8 mm long.
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