Plants 30-100 cm. Leaves alternate; petioles 0-1 mm; blades 1- or 3-nerved from bases, lance-ovate to lance-linear, 5-70 × 4-20 mm, margins entire or coarsely dentate. Heads in paniculiform arrays. Peduncles 5-20 mm. Involucres 7-11 mm. Phyllaries green to stramineous, sometimes purple-tinged (often contorted, lengths of outer ¹/2 or more inner, apices long-acuminate). Florets 12-24; corollas pale yellow to pinkish lavender, 4.7-7 mm. Cypselae 4-5 mm. 2n = 18.

Flowering Aug-Nov. Open areas, wide range of soils; 50-1000 m; Ark., Kans., Mo., Okla., Tex.