Achyroseris albicaulis (Bunge) Kamelin & Tagaev; A. macrosperma Schultz Bipontinus; Scorzonera albicaulis f. flavescens Nakai; S. albicaulis subsp. macrosperma (Turczaninow ex Candolle) Voroschilov; S. albicaulis var. macrosperma (Turczaninow ex Candolle) Kitagawa; S. albicaulis f. rosea Nakai; S. macrosperma Turczaninow ex Candolle; S. macrosperma f. angustifolia Debeaux.

Herbs to 1.2 m tall, perennial. Rootstock cylindric to obconic, ca. 1.5 cm in diam. Caudex with brown scarious leaf sheath residues. Stem usually solitary, erect, branched apically, floccosely arachnoid hairy especially apically, glabrescent, leafy. Basal leaves rosulate, usually early deciduous, linear to linear-elliptic, to 40 × 0.3-2 cm, glabrous, margin entire, apex acuminate. Stem leaves similar to basal leaves but shorter. Synflorescence sparsely and usually laxly corymbiform, with usually 2-7 capitula. Involucre cylindric, 2-2.5 × 0.5-0.7 cm at anthesis, 3.5-4.2 × 0.8-1.3 in fruit. Phyllaries abaxially glabrous or thinly arachnoid hairy, glabrescent; outermost phyllaries triangular-ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 5-8 × 2-4 mm. Florets yellow, ca. 1.5 × as long as involucre. Achene pale brown, cylindric and from middle third distinctly tapering toward apex, usually 1.7-2.3 cm, with smooth ribs, glabrous. Pappus straw-colored, usually 2.2-2.8 cm, bristles basally connate and caducous as an entity. Fl. and fr. May-Sep. 2n = 14.

Achyroseris macrosperma Schultz Bipontinus (1845) and Scorzonera macrosperma Turczaninow ex Candolle (1838) are, in spite of having the same epithet, independently described heterotypic synonyms.

Mountain valleys, forests, forest margins, scrub, feral fields, fields; 200-2500 m. Anhui, Guizhou, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Nei Mongol, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan [Korea, Mongolia, Russia (SE Asian part)].