Perennials 20–60 cm, colonial; long-rhizomatous. Stems 1–5+, ascending to erect, densely and uniformly strigose, especially distally. Leaves (grayish green) thin to firm, margins entire, apices acute, faces glabrous or strigose; basal usually persistent, petiolate, blades oblanceolate, 50–150 × 5–12(–15) mm, bases attenuate or cuneate, margins entire, apices usually acute; proximal cauline sessile or subpetiolate, blades oblong to narrowly obovate, 50–120 × 5–12 mm, bases attenuate or cuneate; distal sessile, blades 30–70 × 4–10 mm, reduced distally, bases cuneate to ± rounded. Heads in paniculiform arrays, branches ascending. Peduncles moderately to densely strigose, bracts 1–4, linear to oblanceolate. Involucres campanulate, 4–7 mm. Phyllaries in 3–5 series, narrowly oblanceolate or linear (outer) to linear (inner), unequal, bases indurate, margins entire, green zones obovate to elliptic, apices obtuse, faces densely strigose. Ray florets (10–)15–40; corollas violet, laminae 8–13 × 1–1.5 mm. Disc florets 25–65(–80); corollas yellow, sometimes purple-tinged, 4–6 mm, lobes triangular, 0.4–0.8 mm. Cypselae brown, cylindric to obovoid, not compressed, 2–3.5 mm, 3–5-nerved, faces hairy; pappi whitish, 4–7 mm. 2n = 26, 36, 52.
Meadows, grasslands, damp areas in sagebrush steppe and Ponderosa pine woodlands; at elevations from 500-3,200 metres.
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