Biennial or short-lived perennial herb; stems sometimes branching from a stout taproot, 4-15 dm tall, branching above; leaves in a reduced basal rosette and cauline, alternate, pinnatisect, the lobes filiform; inflorescence a cymose panicle (flat-topped), small, radiate, yellow; outer involucral bracts 5, 5-5.8 mm long, connate 2/3-3/4 of their length, the inner bracts cuneate, 3.5-3.8 mm long, truncate, usually mucronate; ray florets 4, 2.6-4 mm long, sometimes sparsely puberulent on the abaxial face; disk florets 8-10, the corollas 2.6-3.5 mm long, moderately to sparsely puberulent; pappus scales 2-4, sometimes absent on disk florets, the scales 1-2 mm long; achenes 1.8-2.8 mm long, translucent, white, with sparse, weakly flexuous hairs. Flowers July to October.