Shrubs, 100-250 cm (± evergreen). Stems erect (terete, striate when dry), branched (usually gland-dotted, farinaceous to puberulent when young). Leaves cauline; all or mostly alternate (at flowering); petiolate or subsessile; blades obscurely nerved, spatulate to spatulate-obovate or orbiculate-obovate, margins entire, faces gland-dotted (viscid, farinaceous when young). Heads discoid, in corymbiform or paniculiform arrays. Involucres narrowly cylindric, 3.5-5(-6) mm diam. Phyllaries persistent, (12-)15-20 in 3-5 series, ± striate, lanceolate to linear-oblong, unequal (apices acute or acuminate, abaxial faces farinaceous, usually gland-dotted). Receptacles weakly convex, epaleate. Florets usually 5 (aromatic); corollas pink to purplish, throats ± campanulate, lobes 5, triangular to lance-ovate; styles: bases not enlarged, glabrous, branches filiform to linear-clavate (distally papillose). Cypselae prismatic, ca. 10-ribbed, densely scabrellous; pappi persistent, of ca. 60-70, barbellate bristles in 2-3 series (outer shorter than inner).

The close relationship between Garberia and Liatris has been long recognized. T. Nuttall (1822) included G. heterophylla in Liatris sect. Leptoclinium (as L. fruticosa Nuttall). Garberia is distinct by its shrubby habit and karyotype (L. O. Gaiser 1954).