Herbs, erect, 3–5 × 0.5–1 dm, tomentose, brownish. Stems slightly spreading to erect, without persistent leaf bases, up to 1/5 height of plant; caudex stems absent; aerial flowering stems erect, slender, solid, not fistulose, 1.5–2.5 dm, tomentose. Leaves basal, 1 per node; petiole (2–)3–7 cm, tomentose; blade elliptic to oblong, (2–)2.5–4.5(–5) × 1.5–3.5(–4) cm, thinly tomentose abaxially, less so to floccose and greenish adaxially, margins plane. Inflorescences cymose, with involucres racemosely disposed at tips, 15–25 × 5–15 cm; branches dichotomous, tomentose; bracts 3, scalelike, triangular, 2–4 mm. Peduncles absent. Involucres 1 per node, turbinate-campanulate, 3–4 × 3–4 mm, tomentose; teeth 5, erect, 0.1–0.3 mm. Flowers 2.5–4.5(–5) mm; perianth creamy white or cream, glabrous; tepals connate proximal 1/4, monomorphic, broadly oblanceolate; stamens exserted, 2.5–5 mm; filaments pilose proximally. Achenes light brown, 2–4 mm, glabrous. 2n = 40.