Hairy biennial or perennial 1–5 dm; lower lvs oblanceolate, to 15 cm × 15 mm or rarely more, the middle and upper ones evidently reduced, linear or lanceolate; heads solitary or several; disk 10–20 mm wide; invol 5–9 mm; rays 125–175, 8–15 mm, ca 1 mm wide, blue, pink or white; disk-cors 4.0–5.5 mm; pappus double; 2n=18, 36. Meadows, prairies, and open ground; Wis. to Alas. and Utah. Our plants, with spreading hairs, are the mostly northern var. pubescens Hook. (E. asper; E. abruptorum; E. drummondii; E. oligodontus; E. oxyodontus)