Perennial, up to 12 cm tall, glabrous herb with poorly branched or unbranched flowering shoots. Radical leaves glaucous, spathulate to spathulate-oblong, 1.5 – 2.5 x 0.8 – 1 cm, entire or obscurely dentate, 3-nerved, basally cuneate-attenuate. Cauline leaves obovate, 4 – 9 x 0.6 – 1.6 cm, sinuate-dentate, obtuse, petiole winged; uppermost leaves much reduced, scale-like. Capitula 9-13-flowered, on up to 3 cm long thin  peduncles. Involucre cylindrical, 1 – 1.3 (-1.5) cm long, dark green. Phyllaries 2-seriate, outer ovate to linear, acute, inner ones 7-8, oblong, membranous-margined, obtuse or  ± acute. Receptacle areolate, naked. Florets purple or bluish-purple, with glabrous, 4 – 5 mm long tube and 11 – 12 x c. 2 mm  ligules with reddish-purple streaks beneath.Anther tube 3.6 – 3.8 mm long excl. appendages. Style branches 1.25 – 1.75 mm long, yellow. Cypselas ± terete to fusiform, 5.5 – 6.5 mm long, light brown, prominently 10-ribbed, muricate, narrowed  to the apices. Pappus pale orange-brown, c. 6 mm long, in 2-4 rows, setae unequal sized, persistent.