Perennials, (3-)5-16(-30) cm (cespitose), faintly aromatic (not rhizomatous, taproots stout, caudices simple or branched, proximal branches clothed with persistent leaf bases). Stems 1-5, erect, whitish gray, densely tomentose. Leaves mostly basal (cauline 1-4), greenish to whitish green; blades (basal) 1-4.5 × 0.6-1.5 cm, 1-2-ternately to palmately lobed (flowering-stem blades 3-lobed), faces sparsely hairy. Heads (2-20, peduncles 0 or to 25 mm) in subcapitate to capitate arrays 2-3 × 2-3 cm. Involucres campanulate or hemispheric, 3.5-6 × 6-11 mm. Phyllaries lanceolate (margins brown), pilose. Florets: pistillate 9-10; bisexual 20-30; corollas yellow or reddish black, 2-3 mm, sometimes glandular. Cypselae oblong, 1.5-2.5 mm, (apices flattened) glabrous.