Senecio sagitta Maximowicz, Bull. Acad. Imp. Sci. Saint-Pétersbourg 27: 483. 1882; Ligularia kansuensis Handel-Mazzetti; L. ovato-oblonga (Kitamura) Kitamura; L. sagitta var. ovato-oblonga (Kitamura) Kitamura; Senecillis ovato-oblonga Kitamura; S. sagitta (Maximowicz) Kitamura; Senecio microdontus Bureau & Franchet (1891), not Baker (1881).

Stem erect, 25-70 cm tall, to 1 cm in diam. at base, glabrous or distally and synflorescence initially white arachnoid-puberulent, glabrescent. Basal leaves petiolate; petiole 4-8 cm, white arachnoid-puberulent, narrowly winged, wing margin entire or denticulate, base sheathed; leaf blade sagittate, hastate, or ovate-oblong to oblong-sagittate, 2-20 cm, 1.5-20 cm wide at base, abaxially white arachnoid-puberulent or glabrescent, adaxially glabrous, pinnately veined, margin dentate, apex obtuse or acute; sinus 1/4-1/3 as long as leaf blade, broad, basal lobes divergent or not, outer margin coarsely dentate. Middle stem leaves shortly petiolate, sheath amplexicaul; leaf blade smaller, sagittate or ovate. Distalmost stem leaves bracteal, lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate. Synflorescence racemose, 6.5-40 cm, lax; leaflike bracts ovate-lanceolate or narrowly lanceolate to linear, 6-15 × ca. 7 mm or rarely longer and wider, to 6.5 cm, herbaceous, apex acuminate; peduncles 5-70 mm, slender. Capitula numerous; supplementary bracts linear. Involucre campanulate or narrowly campanulate, 7-10 × 4-8 mm, outside glabrous; phyllaries 7-10, in 2 rows, oblong or lanceolate, apex acute or acuminate; inner phyllaries membranous at margin. Ray florets 5-9, yellow; lamina oblong, 5-12 × ca. 3 mm, apex obtuse; tube ca. 5 mm. Tubular florets numerous, 7-8 mm; limb extending from involucre; tube 3-4 mm. Achenes brown, cylindric, 3.5-6 mm. Pappus white, as long as tubular corolla. Fl. and fr. Jul-Sep. 2n = 58.

Stream banks, grassy slopes, forest margins, forest understories, scrub; 1300-4000 m. Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [E Himalaya (Gyong), Mongolia].