Gnaphalium leontopodium Linnaeus var. calocephalum Franchet, Bull. Soc. Bot. France 39: 131. 1892; Leontopodium calocephalum var. depauperatum Y. Ling; L. calocephalum var. uliginosum Beauverd.

Herbs, perennial. Rhizome slender, prostrate, usually branched. Stems erect, not branched, 10-50 cm tall, arachnoid pilose. Leaves lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, 50-150 × 2-12 mm, abaxially white tomentose, adaxially green and glabrous or sparsely pilose, lateral veins 2, distinct, subparallel to midvein, base forming sparse sheath around stem, apex acuminate. Capitula 5-20, heterogamous or diclinous-dioecious, closely aggregated, 5-10 mm in diam.; bracteal leaves 10-18, linear, 20-45 × 3-6 mm, forming a multiradiate star of 5-8 cm in diam., both surfaces densely white or yellowish tomentose, base broader, apex acuminate. Involucre 4-6 mm, white tomentose; phyllaries 4-seriate, apex dark brown, acute or rounded, glabrous. Corolla 3-4 mm. Achenes pilose. Pappus white, ca. 4 mm, serrulate. Fl. Jul-Sep, fr. Sep-Oct.

● Alpine meadows, grasslands, thickets, marshes, conifer forests, gravelly slopes, lake banks; 2600-4200 m. Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan.