Stem erect, 30-130 cm tall, slender, 3-4 mm in diam. at base, glabrous. Basal leaves petiolate; petiole to 50 cm, glabrous, base sheathed; leaf blade ovate, 4.5-10 × 8-18 cm, glabrous or rarely shortly pilose on both surfaces, palmately veined, 4-7-palmatisect; lobes 3-7-divided, middle lobes duplicately 3-divided; segments marginally laciniate-dentate. Middle to distal stem leaves fewer, small, palmately divided, often with enlarged sheaths. Synflorescence racemose, 30-48(-60) cm; leaflike bracts linear-subulate; peduncles 3-4 mm, slender, glabrous. Capitula numerous (40-100); supplementary bracts often absent. Involucre narrowly cylindric, 7-11 × 2-3 mm, outside glabrous; phyllaries (3 or)4-6(or 7), in 2 rows, linear-oblong, ca. 2 mm wide, margin narrowly membranous, apex rounded, brown ciliate. Ray florets 2 or 3, yellow; lamina linear-oblong, to 17 × 2-3 mm, transparent, apex obtuse; tube 6-7 mm. Tubular florets usually 3, extending from involucre, 1-1.2 cm; tube as long as limb. Achenes brown, fusiform, 5-7 mm, attenuate at apex. Pappus purplish brown, ca. 4 mm, shorter than tube of tubular corolla. Fl. and fr. Jun-Oct. 2n = 58*.