Annual or biennial; stems 1-4 from an herbaceous base, loosely corymbosely branched, mostly suffused with reddish-purple, 2-7 dm tall; leaves rather thin, dull green, denticulate to coarsely dentate, ovoid-oblong to lanceolate, usually subamplexicaul except the basal leaves; heads radiate, 2.5-4 cm broad; phyllaries 6-11 mm long, loosely erect, ascending or spreading, the outer elongated usually about equaling the height of the disk, linear with mostly filiform-subulate tips; rays 17-30, the lamina 12-15 mm long; achenes oblong 2.5-3 mm long, light brown, smooth to slightly striate; pappus awns 2-4, with ciliolate-scabrous margins, 3-5 mm long. Flowers late July to September.