Annuals or perennials, 10-70(-100) cm, herbaceous to suffrutescent. Leaf blades oblong to oblanceolate, mid-cauline (2.5-)4-13 mm wide. Heads essentially sessile, often surpassed by distal leaves that continue to very base of heads. Involucres (6-)10-15 × 12-30 mm. Phyllaries in 3-4 series, loose, subequal, apices erect to spreading, 1.3-1.7 mm wide, herbaceous. Ray florets 17-38; corollas 8.5-19 mm. Disc florets: corolla tubes longer than limbs. 2n = 12.

Flowering (Jul-)Sep-Dec (sporadically Feb-Jun). Sandy sites, along waterways, canal banks, dunes, beaches, salt flats; 0-10 m; Colo., Fla., La., Tex.; Mexico (Tamaulipas).