Microlonchus minimus Boissier, Fl. Orient. 3: 701. 1875; Centaurea minima (Boissier) B. Fedtschenko; C. vvedenskyi M. Popov; Jurinea korolkowii Regel & Schmalhausen.

Primary stem very short. Branches 5-15(-25) cm, procumbent or ascending, rarely absent in weak individuals, pubescent. Leaves petiolate; leaf blade elliptic to elliptic-obovate, 1-2 × 0.4-0.7 cm, arachnoid or abaxially scabrid and setiferous and adaxially glabrous, base cuneate, margin serrate and sometimes lobed near base, apex acute. Capitula few. Involucre ellipsoid to ellipsoid-ovoid, 10-13 × 4-7 mm. Phyllaries in ca. 5 rows; outer and middle phyllaries ovate to elliptic, 4-10 × 1.5-2 mm, abaxially white pubescent, apex attenuate into a 2-3 mm spinule; inner phyllaries linear, ca. 12 × 1 mm, apex acuminate and spiniform. Corolla ca. 7.5 mm. Achene yellowish, oblanceolate, ca. 2.5 mm, apex truncate. Pappus elements white, scabrid; outer pappus elements ca. 4 mm; inner pappus elements 1(or 2), ca. 6 mm. Fl. and fr. Jul.

Mountain slopes. N Xinjiang [Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan; SW Asia].