Herbs, perennial, caespitose, 10-35 cm tall, with woody rootstocks and branches, shortly branched or not, densely gray pubescent, glabrescent, purple or brown. Leaves and phyllaries densely pubescent, sometimes glabrescent; leaves usually gland-dotted. Middle stem leaves sessile, with pseudostipules; leaf blade oblong, broadly ovate, or obovate, 0.3-2 × 0.2-1.5(-1.7) cm, 1- or 2-pinnatisect and panduratisect; segments 2-4 pairs, distal lobes falcate, usually 3-5-palmatisect; lobules linear, linear-lanceolate, or elliptic-lanceolate, 1.5-6 × 0.5-1.5 mm, rarely lacerate, apex obtuse. Uppermost leaves and leaflike bracts pinnatisect or entire. Synflorescence a ± narrow spikelike panicle. Capitula sessile. Involucre globose or broadly ovoid, 1.5-3(-4) mm in diam.; phyllaries yellowish pubescent; receptacle pubescent or glabrous. Marginal female florets 6-12. Disk florets 15-30, bisexual; corolla limb puberulent or glabrescent. Achenes ellipsoid. Fl. and fr. Jul-Aug.

Krasnoborov (Fl. Sibir. 13: 138-140. 1997) recognized four subspecies within Artemisia obtusiloba, the typical subspecies plus three further subspecies endemic to Siberia: A. obtusiloba subsp. altaica (Krascheninnikov) Krasnoborov, A. obtusiloba subsp. martjanovii (Krascheninnikov ex Poljakov) Krasnoborov, and A. obtusiloba subsp. subviscosa (Turczaninow ex Besser) Krasnoborov.

Dry hills, semidesert steppes, roadsides, saline-alkaline soils, rocky slopes, canyons; below 1700 m. N Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia].