A perennial semi-shrub 70-150 cm tall with a thick woody root. Stems are straight, woody at the bottom, simple.
The leaves are green, glabrous, petiolate, oval, 4-8 cm long and 3-6 cm wide, twice or thrice pinnately dissected into filamentous-linear.
The baskets are ovate-spherical, drooping, converging in racemes on lateral branches, narrow, dense, paniculate inflorescences. Flowering in July-August.
Dried leaves are also used as a spice.
It is undemanding to the soil, exceptionally drought-resistant and winter-hardy.