Plants 4-8(-10+) dm. Stems puberulent, glabrescent. Leaves basal and cauline; blades ovate-lanceolate (basal) to narrowly lanceolate (distal), 5-12+ cm × (5-)12-25+ mm, l/w = 3-5 (basal) or 8-17 (distal), abaxially glabrate (pitted, awl-shaped hairs in pits), adaxially puberulent and/or scabrellous. Heads in open, paniculiform-scorpioid arrays. Peduncles 1-35 mm. Involucres ± obconic to hemispheric, 4.5-6 × 5-7 mm. Phyllaries 35-45+ in 5-6+ series, glabrescent, margins arachno-ciliolate, the outer lance-deltate, 1-32 mm, inner oblong to linear, 4-5(-6) mm, tips acute or rounded-apiculate. Florets 12-24+. Cypselae 2-3 mm; pappi usually whitish to stramineous (rarely purplish), outer scales or bristles 20+, 0.3-1+ mm, contrasting or intergrading with 20+, 6-7+ mm inner subulate scales or bristles. 2n = 34.

Flowering Jun-Aug. Pinelands, scrub oak woodlands, sandy or sandy-clay soils; 60-200 m; Ark., La., Miss., Okla., Tex.