Perennials, 20-100 cm, colonial or cespitose, eglandular, sometimes sparsely, minutely stipitate-glandular; long-rhizomatous, with erect, thick, ± cormoid, woody caudices. Stems 1-5+, erect to scandent-sprawling (mid to dark brown, branched from middle), glabrous or very sparsely fine strigose. Leaves (bright green) thick, firm, ± succulent, margins entire; basal early deciduous, sessile, blades (3-nerved) oblanceolate to obovate, 10-43 × 7-15 mm, bases cuneate, margins scabrous, apices obtuse, mucronate, faces sparsely finely scabrous; proximal cauline sessile (patent to reflexed), blades ovate to lanceolate, 8-30 × 2-10 mm, bases cordate-clasping, apices acute, sometimes spinulose, faces finely scabrous, shiny; distal sessile, blades lanceolate to triangular, 5-15 × 2.5-3.5 mm, reduced to bracts distally, bases clasping, margins finely scabrous, apices acute, white-spinulose, faces finely scabrous. Heads borne singly in diffusely paniculiform arrays, branches initially patent to divaricate, elongate. Peduncles glabrous, bracts relatively numerous, tiny, foliaceous, becoming minute, linear, glabrous. Involucres campanulate, 5-7 mm. Phyllaries in 4-5 series, oblanceolate, strongly unequal, bases (tan) ± indurate, margins hyaline, finely scabrous, green zones diamond-shaped, in distal ¹ / 4 - ¹ / 2 , apices obtuse, mucronate to finely subspinulose, innermost acuminate, faces sparsely strigillose (often obscured by thick, shiny cuticle). Ray florets 11-26; corollas bluish purple, laminae 5-9(-11) × 0.5-1 mm. Disc florets (6-)15-25(-30); corollas yellow, 4-6.5 mm, throats narrowly funnelform, lobes triangular, 0.4-0.8 mm. Cypselae tan to brown, obovoid, not compressed, 2-2.5 mm, nerves very faint, faces sparsely to moderately strigose; pappi tan, 4-6 mm. 2n = 20.

Flowering Oct-Dec. Sandy, clayey soils, margins of woods, open oak-pine scrub, pine flatwoods, fields, roadsides; 0-100+ m; Fla., Ga., N.C., S.C.