Plants 40-150 cm. Corms globose. Stems glabrous or sparsely pilose. Leaves: basal and proximal cauline (arising from separated nodes) 1-nerved, linear to linear-lanceolate, 100-300 × 1-2(-2.5) mm, gradually or abruptly reduced distally, essentially glabrous, gland-dotted (proximal margins sometimes ciliate). Heads in compact, racemiform arrays. Peduncles (ascending) 1-7 mm. Involucres turbinate-campanulate, 5-7 × 4-5 mm. Phyllaries in 2-3(-4) series, lanceolate to oblong or elliptic-oblong, unequal, essentially glabrous, margins with (pinkish purple) hyaline borders, apices usually rounded-retuse and minutely involute-cuspidate to apiculate. Florets 4-6; corolla tubes glabrous inside. Cypselae 2.5-4 mm; pappi: lengths ± equaling corollas, bristles barbellate.

Flowering Aug-Nov. Longleaf pine savannas, longleaf pine-scrub oak, turkey oak-bluejack oak, slash pine-sand pine-scrub, sand pine-scrub, sand ridges, hills, and flats, roadsides; 10-100 m; Ala., Fla., Ga., S.C.