Erect, unarmed, biennial or perennial, glabrous to farinose or arachnoid hairy, geophytic  herbs with simple, broadly ovate or suborbicular, basally cordate, serrulate, occasionally entire leaves. Capitula homogamous, discoid, subglobose, corymbose or in racemose clusters, sometimes solitary, dispersed as a unit. Phyllaries multiseriate, patent to reflexed, generally hooked at the apices innermost  ovate-acuminate. Receptacle flat, densely setose or bristly. Florets tubular, bisexual,  purple. Anther bases caudate, appendages entire. Style branches oblong ± thickened below bifurcation. Cypselas oblong-obovate, ± compressed, glabrous, smooth or rugose, inconspicuously longitudinally ridged. Pappus  short, uniseriate,  not exceeding phyllaries, bristles free, scabrid, deciduous.

About 4-5 species, widely distributed in Europe, Mediterranean region, Central and other temperate Asian countries. Represented by the following species in our area.