Perennials, 8-20(-30) cm; taprooted, caudices branches rhizomelike, relatively long and slender. Stems (usually 1) erect or ascending, glabrous, eglandular. Leaves cauline; blades linear, 8-25(-35) × 0.5-1(-1.5) mm, barely reduced distally, margins entire, ascending-ciliate, faces glabrous or sparsely strigose, eglandular. Heads (discoid) 1(-2-4). Involucres 4-6 × 8-10 mm. Phyllaries in 3-5 series (greenish or purplish apically), glabrous, minutely glandular. Ray (pistillate) florets 0. Disc corollas 3.5-4.5 mm (throats slightly indurate, not inflated). Cypselae 2.2-2.8 mm, 2-nerved, faces glabrous; pappi: outer of setae, inner of 20-61 bristles.