Leontopodium alpinum Cassini var. pusillum Beauverd, Bull. Soc. Bot. Genève 2: 251. 1910; L. alpinum var. frigidum Beauverd.

Herbs, perennial, subpulvinate. Rhizome slender and many branched, with dense radical rosettes of sterile leaves and numerous flowering stems. Stems 2-7 cm tall, densely leafy, densely white tomentose. Leaves spatulate to oblong-spatulate; radical leaves 10-25 × 2-4 mm, cauline leaves 10-20 × 2-3 mm, both surfaces densely white tomentose, base narrowed, apex obtuse. Capitula (1-)3-7, densely congested, 5-6 mm in diam.; bracteal leaves numerous, similar to cauline leaves, congested, forming star of 1.5-2.5 cm in diam. Involucre 3-4 mm, abaxially white lanate; phyllaries 3-seriate, apex usually dark brown, acute, glabrous. Corolla 2.5-3 mm. Achenes glabrous or slightly papillose. Pappus white, serrulate. Fl. Jul-Aug, fr. Aug-Sep.

Alpine grasslands, rocky screes, gravelly slopes, salt lake banks and shores; 3500-5600 m. Qinghai, W Sichuan, Xinjiang, Xizang [India (Sikkim), Kashmir].