Flowering stems 2–12(–16) cm. Corollas reddish black, eglandular. Cypselae ca. 2.5 mm, margins with relatively narrow ribs. 2n = 18, 36.

Flowering late summer. Arctic and alpine tundra, interior mountains; 200–1300 m; Yukon; Alaska; e Asia (Russian Far East).

The red color of the glabrous corollas and the larger heads of subsp. globularia distinguish it from the morphologically similar Artemisia glomerata.