Cousinia sewertzowii Regel var. leiocephala Regel, Trudy Imp. S.-Peterburgsk. Bot. Sada 6: 314. 1880.

Herbs 30-60 cm tall, biennial. Stems solitary, grayish white, erect, apically or sometimes basally branched, densely cobwebby; wings 4-6 mm wide, teeth with 0.5-1.5 mm terminal spines. Leaves thinly papery, concolorous, green to grayish green, sparsely cobwebby. Basal leaves sessile, undivided, lanceolate to broadly lanceolate, margin with spiny teeth. Middle and upper cauline leaves sessile, lanceolate, 2.5-3.5 × 0.7-1.5 cm, margin spinulose and toothed, teeth with apical spines. Capitula 9-12. Involucre campanulate, 1.2-1.5 cm in diam., glabrous. Phyllaries in ca. 12 rows, green; outer and middle phyllaries triangular-subulate to linear-subulate, 5-10 × ca. 1 mm, apex narrowed into a recurved spine 0.5-2 cm; inner phyllaries linear, ca. 12 × 1 mm, abaxially strigose, margin with short cilia, apex expanded and scarious. Corolla purplish red, ca. 1.2 cm, tube 4-4.5 mm. Achene pale grayish brown variegated with dark brown, obovoid, ca. 3 mm, multistriate. Fl. and fr. Jun-Aug.

Slopes; 1100-1800 m. Xinjiang (Tian Shan) [Uzbekistan].