Perennial 2–10 dm from deep-seated creeping roots, glabrous or glabrate; lvs elongate, 5–18 cm × 6–35 mm, entire, or the lower ones ± lobed, rarely sharply denticulate, often glaucous beneath; heads several or numerous, very showy, with 18–50 blue fls; invol 15–20 mm in fr; achenes 4–7 mm overall, the slender body moderately compressed, prominently several-nerved on each face, the beak stout, often whitish, up to as long as the body; 2n=34. Mostly in meadows, thickets, prairies, and other moist low places; Alas. to Calif., e. to Minn. and Mo., and occasionally intr. eastward. June–Sept. (L. tatarica ssp. p.; L. oblongifolia)
Medium-dry to moist soils in fields, thickets of prairies, valleys and in mountains; at elevations to 2,100 metres. Also found in calcareous sites, stream banks and other wet sites.
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