Herbs, perennial, or subshrub 25-60(-70) cm tall, with a thick rootstock, lower parts yellow-brown tomentose, upper parts gray pubescent, glabrescent. Basal and lower stem leaves long petiolate; leaf blade 4-8(-12) × 1.5-2 cm, 2-pinnatisect. Middle stem leaves: petiole (0-)2-5 cm; leaf blade ovate, rather densely pubescent to glabrous, (1 or)2(or 3)-pinnatisect; segments (2 or)3 or 4 pairs, basal and middle lobes lobulate; lobules linear or linear-lanceolate, 10-30 × 0.5-1.5(-2) mm. Uppermost leaves pinnatisect; leaflike bracts 3-sect or entire. Synflorescence a narrow or broad panicle. Capitula many, erect, oblique, or nodding. Involucre subglobose or ovoid, 1.5-3 mm in diam. Marginal female florets 8-15. Disk florets 10-15, male. Achenes oblong or oblong-ovoid. Fl. and fr. Aug-Oct.

Three varieties are recognized in China; Russian authors recognize three further varieties from outside of China.

Steppes, forest steppes, meadows, forest margins, hills, waste areas, rocky slopes, roadsides, stable dunes of desert margins; low to middle elevations. Gansu, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Qinghai, N Shaanxi, N Shanxi, NW Sichuan, Xinjiang [Mongolia, Russia].