Authors: Lag.
Glaucous shrublet 20-50cm high, stems erect and few-branched. Leaves spreading, linear, spiny, l-3cm by 1mm, entire, silky or glabrous, very tough. Small rosetted side-shoots with linear leaves 3-10mm long are borne in the leaf axils. Flowers in one to three-headed clusters on peduncles 3-10mm long. Bolivia to central Chile and Argentinian central Patagonia in rocky slopes and shrubby alpine steppe communities at 1000-4600m. according to latitude. The most widespread species.
