Perennials, 20-50 cm; rhizomatous to subrhizomatous, fibrous-rooted, caudices usually branched, thick, woody. Stems erect, sparsely hirsuto-pilose (hairs 1-2 mm), sometimes minutely glandular. Leaves basal (usually withering by flowering) and cauline; basal blades oblanceolate to oblanceolate-spatulate, 30-100 × 8-20 mm, margins entire, ciliate, faces sparsely hirsuto-pilose, minutely glandular; cauline blades lanceolate to oblong, oblong-ovate, or broadly ovate, nearly even-sized distally or sometimes mid largest (continuing to immediately proximal to heads, bases clasping to subclasping). Heads 1-5 (in corymbiform arrays). Involucres 5.5-7 × 12-18 mm. Phyllaries in 2-3(-4) series, sparsely hirsute-pilose, densely minutely glandular. Ray florets 75-125; corollas blue to lavender, 9-15 mm (ca. 1 mm wide), laminae coiling at tips. Disc corollas 4.4-5 mm. Cypselae 1.6-2 mm, 2-nerved, faces sparsely strigose; pappi: outer of setae, inner of 20-25 bristles. 2n = 36.

Flowering (Jun-)Jul-Aug. Sagebrush, mountain brush, ponderosa pine, aspen, spruce-fir, alpine meadows; 2000-3400 m; Colo., Utah, Wyo.

Intergrades occur with Erigeron subtrinervis and E. speciosus.