Annual to biennial, up to 1.6 m tall, glabrous to villous, erect, divaricately branched, branches strongly thickened at apices. Leaves with curly hairs or bristles on both surfaces, lower leaves runcinately pinnatipartite to undivided and toothed, oblong-ovate to narrowly obovate, sessile or short, winged-petiole; cauline leaves gradually highly reduced towards apex, amplexicaul with acute auricles. Capitula 2 – 3 cm across, solitary or in clusters of 2-5, terminal  and axillary, sessile or on 4 – 8 cm long, apically thickened peduncles. Receptacle  hairy. Involucre 8 – 12  mm long, 3 – 4.5 mm wide. Phyllaries beset with glandular and eglandular hairs or glabrous; outer ones  reflexed in upper, acute to acuminate  part and 2 – 5 mm, lower fleshy  part; inner phyllaries 6 – 12 mm long, upto 2.4 (-3)  mm wide. Florets  9 – 14, ligules 9 – 12  (-13.5) mm long, 2.5 – 4.5 mm wide, bluish above, violaceous below. Style 6 – 10 mm long,  blue. Cypselas obovoid to cylindrical, 2.5 – 3  mm  long. 1 – 1.5 mm wide, weakly ribbed, brown. Pappus scales in 2 – 3 series, erecto-patent, 0.4 – 0.7  (-1) mm long, obtuse.