ABSTRACT

Plant up to 60 cm tall. Stem erect, dense-leafy, with reduced simple, transverse branches from base; branches bearing 1-5 anthodia each, upper half of stem and branches covered with chondroid hairs. Terminal anthodia on branches with long pedicels, lateral anthodia short. Inflorescence racemose-paniculate. Only the lowermost leaves petiolate, rest sessile, linear or linear-lanceolate, reducing from base to branches and gradually trans­ forming there into bracts of involucre; leaves as well as bracts pubescent on upper surface with dispersed fine hairs, chondroid-ciliate on margin and chondroid-acuminate at tip. Anthodia heterogamous, 1-2 cm in diam., with fertile flowers. Involucre campanulate, up to 1.5 cm broad, its outer bracts 7-10 mm long, herbaceous sometimes declinate; inner bracts scarious below along margin, herbaceous above, erect. Pistillate ray flowers tubular, without colouration, together with style 4 mm long in upper half of tube and its section pubescent with short diffuse hairs, without teeth, sometimes some or all pistillate flowers with short glabrous pinkish ligules up to 1.5 mm long or rarely with pinkish teeth, with diffuse short hairs in midportion. Achenes 1.5-2.2 mm long, with 2-4 longitudinal strands, brown. Tuft double, with equal white bristles, 6-6.5 mm long. In Tuva, 2 n = 18 (Erzinsk region).