Stems creeping, rooting, branching, rather rigid, wiry, us. with delicate white ± patent hairs; plant forming patches up to ± 3 dm. diam., branchlets clad in persistent lf-sheaths. Lvs close-set in tufts on branchlets; petioles slender, up to c. 10 mm. long, clad in long slender hairs; sheaths scarious, up to 10 mm. long. Lamina narrow-oblong to narrow-obovate to obovate-oblong, membr., silky-hairy on both surfaces, 10-20-25 × 3-7 mm.; pinnatisect to pinnate. Pinnae c. 8-12 pairs (sts to 20 pairs), markedly decreasing in size downwards, mid-pinnae c. 5 × 1 mm., rather distant, entire; costa narrow, flat. Scape stout, rigid, 5-10-(20) mm. long, nude; receptacle slightly convex; phyll. with scarious purple margins. Capitula of ♀ 5-7 mm. diam.; phyll. in 3-4 series, broad-ovate, up to 8 mm. long, concealing florets. Capitula of ♂ 3-5 mm. diam.; phyll. in 1-2 series, broad-oblong to obovate, up to 7 mm. long. Florets ∞, eglandular, 3-4 mm. long; corolla of ♀ ovoid, minutely toothed, of ♂ funnelform. Achenes slightly curved, plano-convex to obscurely trigonous, glab., ribs hardly developed.

A small perennial herb with tufts of leaves in grassland turfs. Rhizomes us. well-buried, pale, wiry and glabrous; branches uncommon, us. single at flowering nodes; leaves spirally arranged reduced scales lacking blade and petiole, 0.5-2.0 cm apart. Short shoots growing upwards from the rhizome, with 4-8 tufted leaves at the apex. Roots slender and weak, up to 0.5 mm diam. Leaves 1-pinnatifid, 1-6 × 0.3-1.0 cm; blade 0.5-3.0 cm long, lanceolate to obovate, submembranous, light green but often proximal or all pinnae covered with brown pigment, us. moderately villous but glabrous to densely villous, midrib raised along most of ventral surface; pinnae 8-15 pairs, distant to overlapping, cut to rhachis, oblong or obovate; teeth absent or up to 8 per pinna, on distal margins, not obscured by hairs, cut ¼—½ across pinna, narrowly triangular, acute to acuminate, sts with a terminal tuft of hairs. Peduncles ca. equal to leaves, 1-3 cm, nude or occ. with 1 simple bract, villous. Dioecious. Pistillate heads 2-4 mm, up to 8 mm in fruit; surface convex; involucre urceolate; phyllaries 15-30 in 3 or more unequal rows, broadly elliptic, green, ± villous, with a broad often brown-tipped scarious margin; inner phyllaries grow after anthesis to enclose the subglobose fruiting head; florets 25-80, ca. 2.0 mm long, curved, yellow-green; corolla slightly longer than wide, with unequal teeth. Staminate heads 3-5 mm diam.; involucre hemispherical, phyllaries 5-10 in 1-2 subequal rows, not growing after anthesis; florets slightly more numerous. Achenes up to 1.6 × 1.0 mm, slightly compressed in section, almost round or irregularly angled, with a pale unwrinkled papery surface turning brown and smooth. Flowers in spring.