Plant 15 cm. Taproot deep. Stem very short, rarely 10-15 cm. Leaves in flat rosette, glabrous, bright green, pinnatisect or bipinnatisect with petioles, arcuately raised. Heads many-flowered. Involucrum broadly cupuliform, grey-purple. Corolla and pollen violet. V - evergreen, new leaves early spring to mid summer. Fl - May-July. Fr - July-August. P - by seed. Requires well-drained soil, sunny place. Good for the flower bed. Z 5. New.

Caucasus (the Greater Caucasus, Transcaucasus), Asia Minor and northwestern Iran. On talus, gravelly and sandy soil, in meadows in subalpine and alpine zones.