It belongs to the Compositae Family, with the Latin name of Tugarinovia mongolica.

It is a kind of perennial herb. The top of the root is covered with many layers of dead stipe fiber that looks like cotton wool. It doesn't bear any terrestrial stems. The keratinous leaves are oblong, oval or elliptic, about 3 to 15 centimeters in length. They are pinnately lobed, partite or completely segmented. It's dioecious, and the capitula of the staminiferous plant are small. The corolla of the floweret is tubular, white, and cracked into 5 parts, with pink or pale purple anthers. The bottom of the floweret bears threadlike long tails. The capitula of the female plant are bigger. The corolla of the floweret is also tubular, white, and cracked into 5 parts, with 5 staminodes. Its elliptic angiocarp is 8 to 10 millimeters long, covered with thick villoses.     

Gebao ju is a sort of strong xerophyte, mainly seen on desert steppes or desert belts, with an annual precipitation of 80 to 250 millimeters. It usually grows on the top of lithic monadnocks or gravel sloping fields 1,000-1,200 meters above sea level, forming small regional communities. It blossoms and fructifies from May to June.

It's only distributed in the north of Uranchabu, Bayanzhuo'er, and the west of Ih-Ju leagues of Inner Mongolia and some desert steppes and desert belts adjoining to Mongolia. It's an endemic species of plantage on the Inner Mongolia Plateau and of significant value for scientific research.