Plants 25-80 cm. Leaves: proximal and mid blades serrate to undulate-serrate to occasionally deeply toothed or laciniate, glabrate; distal blades glabrous or sparsely to moderately hairy. Heads 20-100+ per plant. Peduncles 1.5-8 cm, usually projecting terminal heads well beyond foliage. Involucres 8-12 × 8-12 mm. Ray florets 9-13; corollas usually yellow throughout, sometimes reddish proximally and yellow distally, 2.7-9.1 × 1.5-6.7 mm. Disc florets 200-400+; corollas 1.7-2.4 mm, lobes 5. Pappi 0.4-0.7 mm. 2n = 26.

Flowering (Mar-)Apr-Jun(-Dec). Sandy or clay soils, ditches, washes, around ponds and lakes, along streams; 500-1900 m; Tex.; Mexico (Coahuila, Nuevo León, Durango, San Luis Potosí).