Plants 30-200 cm. Stems usually simple, often with leafy branches proximally. Heads 15-130, in open, diffuse arrays, on primary branches longer than peduncles. Involucres 6-7 (-8.1) mm. Phyllaries 21-35(-40), subulate to lanceo-late, narrow, green zones narrowly lanceolate. Ray florets 30-54 in (2-)3 series; laminae pink to lavender, (2-)2.5-3.5(-4.2) × 0.3-0.6 mm, longer than pappi, drying in 2-3(-4) (apices shallowly lobed). Disc florets 11-23; corollas 4.3-5.2 mm. Cypselae 1.3-2.5(-2.9); pappi (3.2-)3.6-5 mm. 2n = 20.

Flowering Aug-Jan. Disturbed roadsides, marshy habitats, coastal salt marshes; 0-10 m; Calif., Fla., Ga.; West Indies (Bahamas, Cuba).

Variety elongatum is adventive in California.