Leaf blades hairy or glabrous. Scapes hairy. Inflorescences: sheath length 0.33-0.75 times diam. of flower head; outer involucral bracts much shorter than flower head. Flowers dimorphic: papillate stigmas associated with finely reticulate pollen; smooth stigmas associated with coarsely reticulate pollen; calyx hairy throughout or on ribs only. 2n = 18.

Flowering late spring-early summer. Maritime rocks, cliffs; 0 m; Greenland; Oreg.; Europe.

Populations of subsp. maritima occur mainly in coastal salt marshes, cliffs, rocks, and pastures in northwestern Europe and have their most western extension in southern Greenland, below 62°N latitude. It is introduced and naturalized at Yaquina Head.