Herbs 45-100 cm tall, ?perennial. Stem solitary, 5-10 mm in diam., erect, apically much branched, narrowly winged. Lower stem leaves petiolate; leaf blade narrowly elliptic to narrowly ovate, 5-20 × 1-4 cm, runcinate-pinnatifid or undivided, both surfaces green, sparsely strigose or glabrescent, and gland-dotted, base decurrent; lateral lobes (if present) narrowly triangular to linear, margin entire, apex acuminate. Middle and upper stem leaves ovate to linear, 1-6 × 0.2-2.5 cm, undivided, base auriculate and amplexicaul, margin entire, apex acuminate. Capitula numerous, clustered at end of branches, in a corymbiform synflorescence, subsessile or pedunculate. Involucre campanulate, 1-1.5 cm in diam. Phyllaries in 5 or 6 rows, straw-colored to green, distinctly striate, sparsely arachnoid or glabrous; outer phyllaries narrowly ovate-triangular, 2-3 × 1-1.5 mm, apex acuminate; middle and inner phyllaries narrowly ovate-elliptic to linear, 3-10 × 1-1.7 mm, appendage purple, orbicular, widened, and membranous. Receptacle bristles whitish, to 8 mm. Corolla reddish purple, 1.3-1.4 cm, tube 4-6 mm, limb 7-8 mm, lobes 3-3.5 mm. Achene obovoid, ca. 3 mm, glabrous. Pappus dirty white; outer bristles ca. 3 mm; inner bristles ca. 1.4 cm. Fl. and fr. Jul-Aug.
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