A small, short-lived, herbaceous plant with upright or semi-upright stems usually growing 15-60 cm tall. Its leaves (1.5-13 cm long) are arranged in a weak rosette and alternately arranged along the stems the larger lower leaves are deeply-lobed while the smaller upper leaves are narrower and almost entire. Its narrow flower-heads (8-12 mm long) are pink or purplish in colour and do not have any obvious 'petals' its small 'seeds' are topped with a tuft of whitish coloured hairs (about 5 mm long).