Later, not or sparingly branching erect stems grow to 8–40 cm high, carrying solitary flowerheads at their tips with a papery involucre whitish to beige, reaching beyond the yellow ligulate florets.

Young plants above ground consist of a rosette with many linear to narrowly elliptic leaves with the widest point at, before or beyond midlength 3–27 cm long and ⅔–2 cm wide, with an entire margin or with a few widely distanced teeth, an acute or obtuse tip, and the base narrowing, pale green in color on both surfaces due to the pubescent hairs.

Later, erect, weakly branched or unbranched flowering stems develop, which are covered in a white layer of pilose hairs.

Cypselas from subterranean capitula are larger (4–5 mm long) and heavier, more or less ovate in shape as seen from the side and with erect, about 3 mm long pappus scales, and come in two distinct types, one about 10 mg, glabrous and whitish in color, that shows quick germination, the other about 7⅓ mg, wrinkled, hairy and brown with delayed germination.

[6] Cypselas from the aerial flowerheads germinate quickly under favorable conditions, are smaller (about 3 mm long), lighter (about 3⅓ mg), with diverging pappus scales, and come in three distinct types.

The peripherous cypselas are about ovate, glabrous, whitish in color and having about 3 mm long pappus scales, subtended by an involucral bract and remain in the flowerhead until it disintegrates.

Carl Fredrik Nyman in 1879 realised the latter was very close to Linnaeus' species, but still decided to give Schultz's taxon subspecies status.

[7] The simple translation of the root words from the Greek κατάνάγκη (katanagkē), itself a contraction of κατά (kata), "down" and άνάγκη (anagkē), "force", is "compulsion", which is suggested to refer to the use of this plant in love potions,[8] and is reflected in the vernacular name Cupid's dart.

[3] The aerial flowers are pollinated by a wide variety of insects, but self-fertilisation occurs, and is probably the only type of fertilisation in the horizontal flowerheads.

It can be found in association with Cerinthe major, Convolvulus tricolor, Fedia cornucopia, F. scorpioides, Glossopappus macrotus, Hedysarum coronarium, H. glomeratum, Lavatera trimestris, Malope trifida and Salvia viridis.