Subshrubs, 30-40 cm tall, with a thick rootstock and capitate branches. Lower and middle stem leaves: petiole 3-15 mm; leaf blade ovate, 1-3 × 0.5-2.5 cm, yellowish pubescent or glabrescent, 1(or 2)-pinnatisect; segments 2 pairs, linear, straight or falcate, 3-8(-15) × 0.5-1 mm, margin deeply serrate, apex obtuse and mucronulate. Uppermost leaves and leaflike bracts pinnatisect, 3-sect, or entire. Synflorescence a narrow panicle. Capitula contiguous along ultimate branches, nodding. Involucre oblong-ovoid or ellipsoid, 2-2.5 mm in diam. Marginal female florets 4 or 5. Disk florets 4-6, male. Achenes oblong or oblong-obovoid. Fl. and fr. Aug-Oct. 2n = 36.

Rocky terraces, canyons, dry valleys, roadsides; 1300-2500 m. SW Xinjiang [Kyrgyzstan].