Perennial herb from shallow slender rhizomes; stems from dense basal rosettes, erect, 4-35 cm tall, green or purplish, glabrous, unbranched on the lower 1/2; basal leaves thick, entire, linear-oblanceolate, sessile, 8-30 mm long, glabrous except on the margins, margins ciliate with thick, white trichomes; stem leaves much smaller than the basal, appressed to the stem; flower heads on bracteate peduncles, solitary on the stem branches or in tight clusters of 2-5; involucre 5-8 mm wide; phyllaries in 4-6 overlapping series, each oblong, acute at the apex, with a black or brown midrib; ray flowers 8-12, blue-lavender; disk flowers numerous, yellow, sometimes purple tinged; pappus of long bristles, achenes silvery-hairy. Flowers August to October.