Herbs, perennial, stemless. Caudex 1.5-2 cm in diam., simple. Rosette leaves petiolate; petiole 2-6(-16) cm; leaf blade elliptic, narrowly elliptic, narrowly ovate, or narrowly obovate, 10-30 × 5-13 cm, pinnately lobed, pinnatisect, or sometimes bipinnatisect, green, pale green, or grayish white, concolorous or abaxially grayish white, both surfaces sparsely strigose and gland-dotted or abaxially sparsely arachnoid to tomentose, margin lobed and spinulose-dentate, rarely entire; lateral lobes 4-7 pairs, obliquely triangular to narrowly ovate; terminal lobe similar to lateral ones but smaller. Capitula 2-12, clustered in center of leaf rosette, pedunculate. Involucre broadly campanulate, 2.5-4(-6) cm in diam. Phyllaries in ca. 6 rows, apex acuminate and spinulose; outer phyllaries ovate to ovate-elliptic, 2-2.5 × 0.8-1 cm; middle phyllaries elliptic to narrowly ovate-elliptic, 2.5-3 × 0.6-1.1 cm; inner phyllaries narrowly ovate-elliptic, 3-3.5 × 0.5-0.8 cm. Corolla dark red, 3-4 cm, tube 2-3 cm, limb 1-1.2 cm, lobes 6-7 mm. Achene cylindric, 7-8 mm, glabrous or apically gland-dotted. Pappus bristles in many rows, yellowish brown, scabrid to barbellate, 2.5-4 cm; outermost pappus recurved, plicate and covering achene. Fl. and fr. Jul-Oct.

The roots are used medicinally.

● Alpine grasslands or thickets, grasslands on mountain slopes; 3500-4800 m. W Sichuan, E Xizang, NW Yunnan.