Subshrubs or herbs, 20-100 cm tall, with woody rootstock and branches, densely white pubescent. Branches 8-18 cm. Lower and middle stem leaves: leaf blade ovate or oblong, 4-8 × 2-7 cm, 2(or 3)-pinnatisect; segments (3 or)4 or 5 pairs, lobules minute, linear or linear-lanceolate, serrate, teeth 3-5(-8) × 0.5(-1) mm, apex acute, sometimes falcately curved. Uppermost leaves and leaflike bracts pinnatisect or entire; lobes or entire leaves linear-lanceolate and longer than those of flowering branches. Synflorescence a ± narrow panicle. Involucre subglobose or hemispheric, 4-7 mm in diam.; phyllaries with scarious margin brown; receptacle convex. Marginal female florets 10-20. Disk florets 30-38 or more, bisexual; corolla limb puberulent. Achenes ellipsoid-ovoid. Fl. and fr. Aug-Oct. 2n = 108.

Canyons, steppes, meadows, shrublands, waysides; low elevations to 1500 m. W Nei Mongol, E Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan; SW Asia].