Herbs, perennial, 10-70(-90) cm tall, with thick, woody, ± oblique rhizome, branched above, puberulent or glabrous. Basal and lower leaves: petiole 1-3 cm; leaf blade ovate, elliptic, oblong, or oblong-ovate, 2-5(-10) × 1.5-4.5 cm, 2(or 3)-pinnatisect or -partite; segments 2 or 3 pairs, elliptic or oblong, 10-15(-20) × 3-6 mm; lobules 3-5 pairs, linear, linear-lanceolate, or elliptic, 5-15(-20) × 1-1.5(-2) mm, apex acute. Middle stem leaves: petiole 1-3 cm, basally auriculate; leaf blade oblong or ovate, 1- or 2-pinnatipartite. Uppermost leaves 3-5-pinnatipartite; leaflike bracts 3-lobed or entire. Synflorescence a racemelike panicle, 15-20 × 5-6 cm; primary branches 6-10 cm, ± erect, secondary branches 1-1.5 cm, ascending. Capitula many, nodding. Involucre ovoid or subglobose, 1.5-3 mm in diam., shortly pedunculate or not; phyllaries glabrous, outer ovate, margin narrowly hyaline membranous. Receptacle convex, glabrous. Florets 12-16(-20). Marginal female florets 4-8. Disk florets 5-10(-12). Achene dark brown, obovoid or oblong, ca. 1 mm, finely striate. Fl. and fr. Aug and Oct. 2n = 36.

Steppes, meadows, forest steppes, alpine and subalpine steppes, waste areas, rocky slopes, dry valleys, riverbanks, forest margins, roadsides, grasslands, in shrubs; low elevations to 4600 m. Gansu, Guizhou, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Xizang, Yunnan [N India, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Nepal, N Pakistan, E Russia].