Subshrubs, 30-40 cm, caespitose. Stems numerous, erect or ascending, puberulent, branched above, densely leafy. Leaves cauline, thick, densely puberulent, abaxially gray-green, midvein and 3- or 4-pairs of lateral veins prominent, adaxially dark green; lower leaves withered by anthesis; middle leaves subsessile, oblong, elliptic, or oblong-lanceolate, 1.5-2.5 × 0.5-0.8 cm, base ± rounded or broadly cuneate, margin entire, revolute, apex obtuse or rounded; upper leaves gradually reduced, 0.4-0.6 × 0.2-0.3 cm. Capitula ca. 1.5 cm in diam., solitary or in corymbiform synflorescences; peduncles to 3 cm. Involucres hemispheric, 1.5-5 × 6-7 mm; phyllaries 4-seriate, unequal, abaxially puberulent, membranous, margin villous-ciliate; outer phyllaries ovate-lanceolate, 1.5-2 × ca. 0.8 mm, acute, sometimes somewhat purplish; inner phyllaries lanceolate, ca. 3 × 1 mm, acute; innermost phyllaries linear-lanceolate, 4.5-5 × ca. 0.8 mm, margin narrowly scarious, acuminate. Ray florets 10-16, white or reddish, tube 2-2.4 mm, hairy, lamina linear-oblong, 8-10 × 1.3-1.5 mm; disk florets 4.8-5.2 mm, tube 1.8-2.1 mm, tube and limb sparsely hairy, lobes lanceolate, ca. 1.2 mm, tip glandular. Achenes lanceolate, slightly compressed, ca. 2 mm, strigose, 4-ribbed. Pappus 3-seriate, yellowish to reddish; outer bristles ca. 0.2 mm; inner bristles ca. 3 mm, acute; innermost bristles 4-4.5 mm, clavate. Fr. Oct.

● Dry slopes or stony places, dry roadsides; 800-2300 m. S Gansu (Xigu), NW Sichuan.