Leaf faces glabrous or villous. Peduncles densely strigillose (hairs loosely appressed, slightly crinkled; most dense immediately proximal to heads). Ray corollas blue to purple or pink, less commonly white to pale blue.

Flowering Jul-Sep. Moist or wet subalpine meadows, sometimes dry slopes, roadsides, glacial moraines, openings among aspen, pines, or fir; 1300-3800 m; Alta., B.C., Yukon; Alaska, Calif., Colo., Idaho, Mont., Nev., N.Mex., Oreg., Utah, Wash., Wyo.