Gynoecious (staminates unknown). Plants 3.5-12.5 cm. Stolons 0.5-1 cm. Cauline leaves 7-14 mm. Heads 2-4. Involucres: staminate unknown; pistillate 6-7 mm. Corollas staminate unknown; pistillate 3.5-4 mm. Cypselae 1-2 mm; pappi: staminate unknown; pistillate 4-4.5 mm. 2. = 56, 63, 100+.

Flowering summer. Arctic and alpine tundra, on or near dry rocky outcrops or sand ridges; 100-1500 m; Greenland; Nfld. and Labr. (Labr.), N.W.T., Nunavut, Que., Yukon; Alaska; Siberia (arctic).

The sexual progenitors of subsp. friesiana are subspp. alaskana and neoalaskana.