Shrubs, dwarf, caespitose, 30-40 cm tall, with thick woody roots, rootstocks, and branches, densely gray or yellowish sericeous, glabrescent at base; stems brown or brownish. Leaves ± leathery. Middle stem leaves: petiole 3-5 mm; leaf blade ovate or suborbicular, 1-1.5 × 0.4-0.6 cm, 2-pinnatisect, segments 2 or 3 pairs, distal lobes 3-5-lobulate; lobules narrowly spatulate, linear, or linear-oblanceolate, 1-3 × 0.5-1.5 mm. Uppermost leaves and leaflike bracts sessile, pinnatisect or 3-5-lobed. Synflorescence a panicle. Capitula shortly pedunculate. Involucre subglobose, 3.5-4.5 mm in diam.; phyllaries yellowish pubescent; receptacle pubescent. Marginal female florets 4-10. Disk florets 10-20, bisexual; corolla limb puberulent. Achenes obovoid-oblong. Fl. and fr. Aug-Oct.

Artemisia xerophytica is used in windbreaks and for sand stabilization. It is also an important source of herbage for livestock.

Gobi Desert, semidesert steppes, dunes; 1700-3500 m. N Gansu, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, N Qinghai, N Shaanxi, N Xinjiang [Mongolia].