Subshrubs, densely caespitose, 10-20(-35) cm tall, rarely branched above base, gray puberulent, strongly aromatic. Stems ± 4-angled, leaves clustered on short shoots. Stem leaves subsessile; leaf blade ovate or broadly ovate, 8-12 × 7-10 mm, 1- or 2-pinnatisect to ± palmatisect; segments 2 or 3 pairs; lobules filiform-clavate or linear-filiform, 2-4 × ca. 0.5 mm, apically obtuse. Uppermost leaves and leaflike bracts 3- or 5-lobed. Synflorescence terminal, ± spikelike, often unbranched. Capitula few, separated, subsessile. Involucre hemispheric or ovoid, 3-3.5(-4) mm in diam. Marginal female florets 1-3. Disk florets 8-20, bisexual; corolla yellow. Achenes obovoid. Fl. and fr. Jul-Sep.

● Rocky slopes, steppes, semidesert steppes, saline-alkaline soils, dry floodlands, gravelly areas, sometimes locally dominant; 1800-3200 m. W Gansu, SW Nei Mongol, Qinghai, Xizang.