Biennial or perennial herbs with strong, upright, hollow stem. Leaves simple, ovate to narrowly ovate-elliptic, lyrately pinnately lobed with large terminal lobe or undivided; petioles of basal leaves unwinged. Capitula solitary, terminal with many-florets, long peduncled. Involucre cup-shaped. Phyllaries multi-seriate, imbricate, linear-lanceolate to narrowly ovate-elliptic, apically long acuminate, leathery, outer somewhat recurved. Receptacle densely bristly, bristles linear, acute. Florets bisexual, fertile, purple or reddish-purple, 1.5 – 3 cm long. Corolla tubular with 5-lobed, glabrous limb. Stamen filaments glabrous, anthers narrowly linear, with lacerate tails. Style thickened below the  stigmas. Cypselas straw-colored, large, oblong-obovate, 5 – 8 mm long, wrinkled, glabrous, inconspicuously tetragonal, apically with a short, obtusely crenulate crown, basally straight. Pappus uniseriate, bristles snow white or light brown, numerous, feathery, united at the base into a ring, caducous as a whole.

A small genus consisting of 4-5 species, distributed in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tadjikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and China. Represented in our area by the following species.