Perennials, 4-11 cm; taprooted, caudex branches usually relatively thick, woody. Stems erect, sparsely to moderately hispidulous and minutely glandular, sometimes merely glandular. Leaves mostly basal and proximal (persistent); basal blades spatulate to obovate (often folding), 20-40(-50) × 5-10 mm, margins pinnatifid (lobes linear), faces usually glabrate, sometimes sparsely hirsute, usually minutely glandular; cauline blades mostly linear, abruptly reduced distally or nearly absent, margins entire, usually coarsely ciliate. Heads 1. Involucres 5.5-8 × 9-13 mm. Phyllaries in 3-5 series, sparsely hispidulous to hirsuto-villous, minutely glandular. Ray florets 40-70; corollas usually light blue, sometimes slightly purplish, drying bluish or fading lighter, 7-12 mm, laminae reflexing. Disc corollas 3.8-4.5 mm. Cypselae 1.5-1.8 mm, 2-nerved, faces sparsely strigose; pappi: outer of setae, inner (persistent) of 25-30 bristles, with outer setae.

Flowering late Jun-Aug. Bluffs and ledges, moraines, subalpine and alpine meadows; 2700-3700(-4000) m; Colo., N.Mex., Wyo.