Plants 3.5-25 cm tall. Leaves 1.5-4 cm X 4-8 mm, lanceolate to linear. Bracts 1.5-2.5 mm long. Calyx with 1 or 2 extensions, unequal, the longer equal in size to the fruit, horizontal or recurved, tip 1-2 dentate; calyx margin irregularly dentate, often apiculate. Achene c. 3 mm long, glandular-pubescent, often heteromorphic, those in axil of the dichotomies 5 mm long and 1-lobed; base bigibbous; sterile locule pair smaller than the fertile one.

Fl. Per.: March-May.

Type: Described from Soviet Armenia and Mountains of Talysh.

Distribution: C. Asia, USSR, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Used as a vegetable in parts of Baluchistan. Also collected in Kurram by Afendi (Rech. f., Fl. Iran. 62:7.1969).