An erect tufted perennial herb, up to 20(30) cm. tall from a woody rootstock. Stems annual, 1-many, simple, ± densely leafy in the lower two-thirds, ribbed, coarsely pilose-pubescent to tomentose; indumentum brownish strigose interspersed with long pilose hairs. Leaves sessile, 1–2(3) x 0.3(0.8) cm., narrowly oblong-lanceolate to linear, apex acute, base ± cuneate, densely pilose on both surfaces, gland-pitted; upper cauline leaves absent or 1–3, bract-like. Capitula mostly solitary and terminal on the stem, sometimes 2–3 in leaf axils below, these usually bud-like. Involucres up to c. 15 mm. long, broadly campanulate to widely spreading and hemispheric. Phyllaries many, strigose to glabrescent below and patent-pilose towards the apex; the outer c. 5–7 mm. long, subulate or narrowly lanceolate with an attenuate apex; the innermost up to c. 15 mm. long, lanceolate with an acuminate apex. Corollas pale-mauve, up to c. 12 mm. long, funnel-shaped. Achenes up to c. 4 mm. long, narrowly turbinate-cylindric, 4–5 ribbed, ± densely appressed-setulose, glandular; outer pappus of short, narrowly lanceolate scales; inner pappus of copious, brownish, barbellate setae, 8–10(12) mm. long.