Herbs 20-90 cm tall, perennial. Stem solitary, pale gray to grayish white, unbranched, leafy, with dense leaf remains at base, densely gland-dotted in lower and middle part, densely cobwebby to thickly lanate below synflorescences. Leaves sessile, linear to linear-lanceolate, 2-8 × 0.6-0.8 cm, undivided, abaxially whitish to grayish white and densely cobwebby to thickly lanate, adaxially green and densely gland-dotted, margin entire and revolute. Pseudocephalium solitary, 2-4 cm in diam. Capitula ca. 1.6 cm. Phyllaries 16-18; outermost phyllaries oblanceolate to linear, ca. 7 mm, ca. 1/2 as long as involucre, abaxially strigose, claw margin long ciliate, distal portion strigose and apex spinulose acuminate; middle phyllaries oblanceolate, ca. 1.1 cm, abaxially strigose, distal half of margin long ciliate; inner phyllaries narrowly elliptic, abaxially gland-dotted, margin long ciliate. Corolla white, tube outside not gland-dotted. Achene ca. 5 mm, hairs yellowish. Pappus scales subulate, ca. 1.5 mm, connate almost entirely. Fl. and fr. Jul-Sep.

Dry rocky slopes, sandy slopes, open areas in forests, fields; 400-2400 m. Xinjiang (Fuyun) [Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia].