Stems from a sturdy
caudex 2-9 dm tall, hairy, sometimes loosely so, leafy; lowest leaves scale-like
others mostly uniform, elliptic to oblong-lanceolate, 1.5-5.5 cm long by 4-20 mm
wide, callous-apiculate, sessile, entire, green and smooth above, tomentose
below, 1-veined and a pair of weaker lower veins; heads few to many, 2.5-4 cm
wide, corymbose at the end of the upper branches, racemose below, involucres,
4-5 rows, 8-10 mm high; the bracts finely glandular, the bases indurate, the
tips herbaceous usually purple-tinged or margined; rays 6-20, purple to pink,
1-1.5 cm long; pappus of bristles, inner ones flattened, outer ones short and
setulose; meadows and open woods in the mountains.