Caespitose perennial; acaulescent; scapes and leaves mainly glabrous, 5-15 cm tall, arising from a branched rhizome covered at the base by persistent stipules; leaves clustered, leaflets 7-30 mm long, oval to elliptic-oblong, glabrous or glabrate, margins with very prominent nerves, sometimes terminating in shallow teeth; inflorescence exceeding the leaves; involucre absent or nearly so; heads 5 or more flowered; calyx 6-10 mm long, glabrous or with scattered long hairs, green to purple when dry, teeth acuminate and longer than the tube; corolla 13-20 mm long, purple, violet when dry; pods glabrous, 1-3(7)-seeded. Flowers July and August.