Plants 5-18 cm tall, stoloniferous. Rhizomes reduced; roots fascicled, fibrous, ca. 1 mm in diam.; stolons terminating in leafy rosettes. Stems solitary, erect, simple, glabrous or sparsely hirsute except at nodes. Rosette leaves long petiolate; blade orbicular, entire, caducous. Cauline leaves in 2 or 3 pairs, lowermost long petiolate; petiole 3-6 cm, subsessile apically; blade obovate, 1.5-3 × 1-1.5 cm, pinnatisect; segments 3-9, oblong to obovate, margin entire and ciliate; terminal segment 1-1.5 × 0.6-0.8 cm; lateral segments reduced. Inflorescence capitate at anthesis, ca. 1 cm in diam., expanding to 3-4 × 2-3 cm in fruit; bracts and bracteoles spatulate to lanceolate; bracteoles slightly shorter than fruit. Corolla red, tubular, ca. 5 mm, inside villous, lobes elliptic-oblong, ca. 2 mm. Stamens and style exserted. Achenes ellipsoid-ovoid, 3.5-4 × ca. 2 mm, both surfaces hirsute. Fl. Jul-Aug, fr. Aug-Sep.

● Grassy slopes with shrubs, stony places; 4000-5000 m. Qinghai (Henan, Nangqên, Qilian, Zadoi), NE Xizang (Amdo, Biru, Sogxian).