Plants 10-60 cm. Stems 1-4, erect or ascending, reddish, sometimes sparsely leafy, sparsely to densely villous, tomentose, or woolly, usually stipitate-glandular distally. Leaves: basal petiolate, blades lanceolate to oblanceolate or elliptic, 40-200 × 8-45 mm, margins usually coarsely, sharply serrate, sometimes entire, frequently stipitate-glandular, sometimes ciliate, apices acute, faces villous to tomentose, sometimes stipitate-glandular; cauline petiolate, lanceolate, 15-75 × 3-20 mm, becoming sessile and reduced distally, bases clasping. Heads usually 3-7 in loose, racemiform arrays, rarely borne singly (short- or long-pedunculate). Involucres hemispheric to campanulate, 7-12 × 8-20 mm. Peduncles 1-4 cm. Phyllaries in 2-3 series, loose or appressed, green throughout or only distally (bases chartaceous), linear-lanceolate, unequal to subequal, apices acute, faces villous to tomentose, sometimes stipitate-glandular. Ray florets 10-34; corollas 6-15 mm. Disc florets 30-60; corollas 5-7 mm. Cypselae subcylindric, 3-4.5 mm, 3-4-angled, faces striate, sericeous-strigose; pappi whitish to tawny, 5-7 mm.

Pyrrocoma hirta is recognized by its relatively short stature, villous, glandular-stipitate stems, lanceolate, coarsely serrate leaves, and loose, racemiform arrays. R. A. Mayes (1976) suggested that it is closely related to P. lanceolata. Much overlap occurs in the characters used to differentiate the varieties.