Plants 5–6.5(–10 in fruit) cm; taproots seldom branched. Stems 1–5+, decumbent to ascending, purple, (rarely exceeding foliage before fruiting), sparsely villous or glabrate to ± densely villous distally. Leaves 10+, horizontal to ± erect; petioles often purplish (midveins also), ± narrowly winged; blades oblanceolate to linear-oblanceolate, 2.5–9 × 0.2–1.1 cm, bases attenuate to long-cuneate, margins usually toothed, sometimes pinnately, shallowly lobed, lobes fewer than 10 per side, remote, (and teeth) straight to retrorse, narrow, deltate to narrowly triangular, often acuminate, apices obtuse to acute, faces glabrous or sparsely villous (particularly along midveins). Calyculi 10–15, appressed to spreading, pale to dark purplish green, ovate to elliptic bracklets in 2 series, 6–8.5 × 2–5 mm, margins ± purplish, widely scarious, apices acuminate to caudate, hornless. Involucres green to grayish green, campanulate, 12–16 mm. Phyllaries 14–16 in 2 series, lanceolate to lance-linear, 1.5–2.5 mm wide, margins scarious to narrowly scarious in proximal 1/2, apices long-acuminate, erose-scarious, hornless. Florets ca. 50; corollas yellow, outer abaxially gray-striped, 13–14 × 1.4–2.2 mm. Cypselae straw-colored to olivaceous, bodies narrowly obovoid, 2.8–4 mm, cones terete, 0.8–1 mm, beaks slender, 7–9 mm, ribs ca. 6, sharp, faces slightly muricate in distal 1/3; pappi white to cream, 4.5–6.5 mm. 2n = 24, 32, 40 (reported for complex in Europe).
