Herbs, annual, 20-60 cm tall, many branched, gray pubescent, fetid. Lower and middle stem leaves: petiole 0.5-3 cm; leaf blade ovate-oblong or oblong, 1.5-4 × 0.3-0.8 cm, densely gray pubescent, (1 or)2-pinnatisect; segments 5-8 pairs, ovate-oblong or subobovate, 3-5 × 2-3 mm, serrate to pinnatipartite; teeth 5-8 pairs, 0.3-0.8(-1.5) × 0.3-0.8 mm. Uppermost leaves and leaflike bracts pinnatipartite or entire, latter elliptic-lanceolate or lanceolate, few serrate. Synflorescence a broad, diffuse panicle. Capitula shortly pedunculate. Involucre ellipsoid or oblong-ellipsoid, 1.5-2 mm in diam.; phyllaries gray puberulent. Female florets 2 or 3. Disk florets 3-6, male. Achenes ellipsoid. Fl. and fr. Jul-Oct.

Dry slopes, grasslands, steppes, waste areas, roadsides, dunes near riverbanks; low elevations. Nei Mongol, Ningxia, N Shaanxi [Mongolia].