Shrubs, 0.8-2 m tall. Leaves on long shoots alternate, petiole ca. 1 mm, leaf blade linear-lanceolate, 7-30 × 2-4 mm, papery, abaxially densely sericeous, adaxially glabrous or sparsely villous when young, base attenuate, margin entire, apex mucronate; leaves on branchlets tufted, 3 or 4, leaf blade lanceolate or oblanceolate, 10-35 × 2-6 mm. Capitula solitary, terminal on branchlets; peduncle 2-5 mm; female capitula 1-1.1 cm, 2-flowered, male capitula 7-8 mm, 3-5-flowered; involucre cylindric, 2-3 mm in diam.; phyllaries 3-seriate, abaxially densely white lanuginous, outer phyllaries ovate, 2-3 mm, inner narrowly elliptic, ca. 6 mm. Florets unisexual, corollas purplish red, tubular, ca. 7 mm, deeply 5-lobed. Achenes obovoid-oblong or subterete, ca. 5 mm, villous; pappus white, ca. 8 mm. Fl. Jun-Aug.

● Scrub on mountain summits or slopes, coniferous forests; 1900-3200 m. Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shanxi, Sichuan.