The alternate leaves are broad, triangular and clasping the stem, bluish-grey beneath, hairy along the veins and with toothed margins.

The individual blue-violet florets are tongue-like with a toothed, truncated tip, each having five stamens and a fused carpel.

[7] Cicerbita alpina grows on many mountains of Europe (the Alps, the Pyrenees, the northern Apennines, the Scandinavian Peninsula, Scotland (where it is endangered and found in only four known locations), the Carpathians and the Urals.

[8] These plants can be found in alpine woods, besides streams, in rich-soil in hollows and in tall meadows, usually between 1,000 and 1,800 metres (3,280 and 5,910 ft) above sea level.

[9] In Finland, this plant is known as "bear-hay" because the Eurasian brown bear feeds on it, as do elk and reindeer.