Crepis simulatrix Babcock, Univ. Calif. Publ. Bot. 14: 329. 1928; C. smithiana Handel-Mazzetti; Pseudoyoungia ladyginii (Tzvelev) D. Maity & Maiti; P. simulatrix (Babcock) D. Maity & Maiti; ?Taraxacum altune D. T. Zhai & C. H. An; Tibetoseris ladyginii Tzvelev; T. simulatrix (Babcock) Sennikov.

Herbs less than 5(-8) cm tall, perennial, rosulate, subacaulescent, with ?taproot and lateral shoot-bearing roots giving rise to secondary rosette shoots. Caudex short, unbranched or weakly branched, with residues of old leaf bases. Rosette leaves oblanceolate, 1-6 × 0.5-1.5 cm, both faces glabrous or abaxially somewhat pilose and adaxially puberulent, base attenuate into a petiole-like portion, margin entire to sinuate-dentate or more rarely pinnatifid, apex acute, rounded, or shortly acuminate; lobes (if present) triangular-ovate, apex obtuse to acute. Capitula 1-10, clustered, directly from axils of rosette leaves or from a branched, 5-10 mm stalk, each with 13-20 florets; peduncle 0.2-2(-6) cm, slender, glabrous or pilose. Involucre cylindric, 1.2-1.6 cm. Phyllaries dark green to pale yellowish green, abaxially glabrous, margin white scarious; outer phyllaries imbricate, ovate to lanceolate, longest 1/3-1/2 as long as inner ones, apex obtuse to acute; inner phyllaries 8-12, adaxially glabrous, apex acute. Anther tube and style yellow upon drying. Achene dark brown, ± fusiform, ca. 4 mm, ± compressed, apex truncate. Pappus white, 1-1.1 cm, persistent. Fl. and fr. Jul-Oct.

Tibetoseris ladyginii and Taraxacum altune are regarded as synonyms of Youngia simulatrix following Sennikov and I. D. Illarionova (Komarovia 5: 91. 2008) and not Ge and Zhai (Novon 9: 47. 1999).

Grasslands on mountain slopes, gravelly areas on floodplains, grassy beaches in river valleys; 2700-5000 m. Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan, Xizang [India (Sikkim), Nepal].