Annual herb 5–20 cm high, branched from the base, the proximal part of the stem decumbent and rooting; branches not winged, glabrous or nearly so.. Leaves spatulate, 1.5–6 cm long, 0.5–2 cm wide, base long attenuate, margins denticulate, apex rounded to acute, glabrous, sparsely glandular beneath.. Glomerules sessile, ovoid, 5–10 mm long, 4–6 mm in diameter, the glomerule bracts covering the wholeglomerule and making it look like a conifer cone; receptacle cylindrical to ellipsoid; bracts mauve to pink distally, ovate to lanceolate, 2–4.5 mm long, acuminate with a spinulose acumen, the tips spreading; capitula sessile; capitulum bracts 4, distally mauve, 1.5–2 mm long, distally erose, scarious and glabrous, the laterals folded.. Florets 3–5; outer florets 2–4, cylindrical to slightly conical, tube 0.3–0.5 mm long, lobes minute, style 0.6–0.7 mm long, bifid; inner floret 1, tube broadly cylindrical, 0.5–0.7 mm long, lobes 0.3 mm long, anthers 0.3–0.4 mm long, style 1–1.3 mm long, briefly notched.. Achenes cylindrical, 0.6–0.7 mm long, puberulous.
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