Description from
Flora of China
Erigeron armeriifolius Turczaninow ex Candolle; E. armeriifolius var. elatior Ledebour; E. armeriifolius var. humilis Ledebour; E. podolicus Besser var. pusillus Ledebour; Trimorpha armeriifolia (Turczaninow ex Candolle) Vierhapper; T. lonchophylla (Hooker) G. L. Nesom.
Herbs, biennial or short-lived perennial, 3-30 cm, caespitose; rhizome weak. Stems usually several, 1-1.5 mm in diam., erect or ascending, slenderly branched, green or purplish tinged, sparsely hirsute, especially upward. Leaves basal, rosulate, petiolate or subsessile, blade linear-lanceolate to oblanceolate or spatulate, 1-10 cm × 0.15-6 mm, surfaces sparsely hirsute, margin entire, hirsute-ciliate, apex acute; cauline few, sessile, ± subclasping, blade linear, upper reduced gradually. Capitula 8-10 × 15-20 mm, solitary or several in racemiform, rarely paniculiform synflorescences, long pedunculate. Involucre hemispheric; phyllaries 3-seriate, linear-lanceolate, abaxially hirsute, apex acuminate, outer almost 1/2 as long as inner, inner yellowish green, purple at apex, often exceeding or sometimes equaling disk florets, 5.5-8.5 × 0.5-0.75 mm, margin narrowly scarious. Ray florets 3- or 4-seriate, lilac or pink to pale violet, 5-7 mm, tube 2.5-3 mm, hairy distally, lamina involute; disk florets pale yellow, ca. 4.2 mm, hairy, tube ca. 2 mm, limb narrowly cylindric, lobes lanceolate, ca. 0.2 mm, glabrous, often purplish tinged, anthers and style branches not exserted from corolla. Achenes straw-colored, narrowly oblong, 1.5-2 × ca. 0.3 mm, sparsely strigose. Pappus yellowish, 2-seriate, outer bristles ca. 0.6 mm, inner 4.5-5 mm. Fl. Jul-Sep.
Meadows on banks of rivers, lakes, and marshes, lower mountain plains. N Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia (Siberia); SW Asia (Iran), North America].