Perennials (sometimes flowering first year), 20-80 cm. Leaves wholly basal or nearly so; petiolar bases 0-3+ cm; blades spatulate to oblanceolate, 3-10(-15) cm × 5-30(-60) mm, pinnatifid, toothed, or entire, glabrous or very sparsely villous with jointed hairs (obscurely, if at all, gland-dotted). Peduncles 15-75+ cm. Phyllaries 22-32, ovate to lance-attenuate, 6-8 mm, nearly glabrous or villous, or at least ciliate, with jointed hairs. Receptacular setae 0 or 0.1-0.5 mm. Ray florets 0 or 7-10; corollas purplish to red, 10-15 mm. Disc florets 40-100+; corollas pinkish to purplish, tubes 1.2-2 mm, throats urceolate, 3-4 mm, lobes narrowly triangular, 1-1.2 mm, jointed hairs 0.3+ mm (style-branch appendages glabrous or glabrate). Cypselae obpyramidal, 2 mm, hairs 2+ mm, inserted at bases and on angles; pappi of 8-10 lanceolate, oblanceolate, or ovate, aristate scales 6-9 mm (scarious bases 4-5 × 1.4-2 mm). 2n = 38, ca. 72.

Flowering Mar-Jun. Calcareous or sandy soils of prairies, desert scrubs, or juniper woodlands; 30-800 m; Kans., Okla., Tex.; Mexico (Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas).