A perennial herb with a stout woody stock up to 1.5 cm diam., flowering stems 1 or several from the crown, commonly 15-60 cm high, simple below, forking above into the inflorescence branches, glandular pubescent. Leaves mostly crowded near the base, distant upwards, there reduced and soon passing into inflorescence bracts, radical leaves 4-30 cm long, blade up to 15 x 5 cm, obovate-elliptic or elliptic in outline, margins lobed and toothed, often lyrate-pinnatifid towards the base, more rarely simply toothed, base always narrowly decurrent onto the long petiole, stem leaves few, smaller, often toothed rather than lobed, the uppermost lanceolate, sessile, all parts with a very short harsh glandular pubescence, some of the hairs very broad-based. Heads discoid, turbinate, c. 13 x 10 mm across the top of the flattened pappus, few to many corymbose-paniculately arranged. Involucral bracts c. 12, (7-8.5-)9(-11) mm long, with very broad-based, short white hairs, imparting a scaly look when dried, calyculus bracts very few, short. Flowers purple, mauve, oxford blue or white. Achenes cylindric, ribbed, white-hispidulous between the ribs, giving the achene a greyish cast.
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Perennial herb, sweet-smelling, rootstock stout, woody. Stems 1-several, up to 0.6 m high, glandular-pubescent, simple below. Leaves mostly basal, outline ± elliptic, up to 150 mm long, margins toothed, also lobed or often lyrate-pinnatifid in lower half, base decurrent onto petiole, up to 150 mm long; cauline leaves few, smaller, sessile, all shortly, harshly glandular-pubescent. Inflorescence a corymbose panicle. Capitula few-many, discoid, white to purple, ± 12 mm in diam.; involucre turbinate; bracts ± 12, ± 9 mm long, shortly white-hairy; calyculus bracts few, short. Flowering time mainly Aug.-Jan. Cypselae cylindrical, 3 mm long, ribbed, greyish hairy.
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