Erect, ascending or procumbent, freely branching perennial; stems glabrescent to pubescent. Leaves spathulate to cuneate, 6–35 mm long, 3–20 mm wide, distally 3–9-lobed, usually abruptly narrowed in lower half, but the base often dilated and stem-clasping. Capitula 1–3 cm diam.; involucral bracts oblong to narrow-elliptic, c. 4 mm long; ray florets 25–55, c. twice as long as bracts, mauve to blue, rarely white; disc florets sterile. Cypsela body 1.5–2.5 mm long, reddish-brown, usually tuberculate; awns 2 (rarely to 4), 1.5–3.5 mm long, divergent, c. continuous with the slightly thickened cypsela margins, barbed near apex, separated at the base by 2(–4) outgrowths of the cypsela body, c. 1 mm high. Flowers Aug.–Feb.