Herbs to 15 cm tall. Petiole grayish purple to bright purple, winged; leaf blade grayish green, often slightly suffused brownish purple, and with a light purplish midvein, linear-oblanceolate to narrowly oblong, 9-13 × 1.7-2.5 cm, very sparsely arachnoid, pinnatilobed to shallowly pinnatisect but sometimes undivided and coarsely dentate; lateral lobes 4-6 pairs, broadly triangular, to 8 × 10 mm, recurved, proximal margin ± straight and usually entire, distal margin straight or shallowly sigmoid and entire or sparsely denticulate, apex acute; interlobes not conspicuous, short and broad, margin ± entire or with a few small teeth; terminal lobe ± narrowly triangular to almost helmet-shaped, 1.5-3 × 1.5-2 cm, terminal segment subacute to acute, distal margin ± convex and entire or irregularly shallowly lobulate-dentate. Scapes pinkish green at base, purple above after anthesis, ± equaling leaves, arachnoid but later glabrescent. Capitulum ca. 1.5 cm wide, remaining partly closed. Involucre 8-9 mm wide, base flat to subtruncate. Outer phyllaries 11-13, dark green middle part with a gradual transition into light green to whitish green border, ± not imbricate, ovate-lanceolate to ovate, outermost ones 4-6 × 2.5-3.8 mm and 1/3-1/2 as long as inner ones, loosely appressed, border to 1.5 mm wide, margin 0.1-0.2 mm, membranous, subglabrous, and purplish on distal ca. 1/3, apex flat or dark callose; inner phyllaries ca. 1 cm. Ligules dirty yellow; outer ligules canaliculate, outside striped grayish purple; inner ligules with yellow or purplish teeth at apex; ligule tube pubescent. Stigmas deep yellow. Anthers polliniferous; pollen grains irregular in size. Achene light grayish straw-colored brown, (3.5-)4.3-4.5 × 0.7-0.8 mm; body with ± prominent lateral ridges, ± sparsely spinulose above, very gradually narrowing into a subcylindric 0.8-1 mm cone; beak ca. 7 mm. Pappus ± white, 6-7 mm. Fl. late spring. Agamosperm.
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