Annual herb 0.1–0.3 m high, erect or nearly so, unbranched to much branched; branches winged with narrow entire wings, glabrous.. Leaves oblanceolate, 3–7 cm long, 0.5–1.5 cm wide, base attenuate and decurrent, margins dentate to almost entire, apex rounded and sometimes apiculate, glabrous, glandular-punctate.. Glomerules pink or lilac, axillary to fallen leaves or older leaves and concentrated near the base of the stem, sessile, ellipsoid, 6–12 mm long, 5–7 mm in diameter; peduncles absent; glomerule bracts visible in the proximal half of the glomerule, the others hidden by the florets, broadly ovate becoming obovate distally, 3–5 mm long, to 2.5 mm wide, margins scarious, apex acuminate to almost spinulose in the proximal ones, rounded and apiculate in the more distal ones, glabrous or sparsely puberulous; capitula sessile, with 4 capitulum bracts, the laterals folded, 2.5–3 mm long, scarious, truncate and erose, glabrous.. Florets: outer florets 4, tube narrowing from the base and corky, filiform in the distal part and membranous, 1.6–2.1 mm long, glandular, lobes < 0.1 mm long, style 1.6–2.6 mm long, bifid; inner florets 2, tube widening, proximally corky, sparsely glandular, sharply constricted about halfway, 1.6–2 mm long, lobes 0.4–0.7 mm long, sparsely glandular, anthers 1.3–1.5 mm long; style 2.6–2.8 mm long, papillose, entire.. Achenes of the outer florets narrowly ellipsoid, 0.8–1.1 mm long, puberulous, of the inner florets narrowly obconical, 1.2–1.3 mm long, glabrous and often sterile.
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