Herbs, perennial, 25-50 cm tall. Stems erect, simple, sparsely pilose, rarely villous. Leaves 4 or 5(-8) per stem below synflorescence, ovate-lanceolate to oblanceolate, pubescent (usually sparsely), with shorter glandular hairs more numerous abaxially, rarely villous on veins abaxially, base attenuate, margin subentire, rarely serrulate, apex rounded to subacute; lower leaves close together, 7-28 × 2.5-6 cm, usually long petiolate; middle and upper leaves distant, (±) sessile, much reduced. Capitula 1 or 2(or 3)[-6], 8-20 mm in diam., surrounded by several whorls of ± regular, spatulate, obtuse, herbaceous, pilose bracts 7-15 × 1.5-6 mm, rarely oblong, acute or few much larger. Phyllaries oblong, ca. 6 × 1.6 mm, scarious, acute or obtuse. Disk florets yellow; corollas ca. 2 mm, tube hairy. Achenes 4-5 mm. Fl. Jul-Sep, fr. Sep-Oct.

In Fl. Pakistan (210: 86. 2003), Carpesium scapiforme is treated as a synonym of C. nepalense var. glandulosum (J. D. Hooker & Thomson ex C. B. Clarke) Qaiser & Abid. Considering that the habitat of C. scapiforme is so distinct, it seems inappropriate to treat it as a variety of C. nepalense.

Alpine meadows, forest margins, streamsides; 3000-4100 m. Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Nepal].