Plants to 100 cm (roots fusiform, branched). Herbage sparsely to densely hairy (hairs spreading). Stems mostly green to purplish. Basal leaves: petioles 4-20 cm; blades (1-), 3-, or 5-nerved, linear to lanceolate, 5-40 × 0.5-4 cm, bases attenuate, margins entire (usually ciliate). Peduncles 20-40+ cm. Phyllaries lanceolate to ovate, 7-15 × 1.5-3.5 mm. Receptacles: paleae 10-14 mm, tips pinkish to purple, incurved, sharp-pointed. Ray corollas rose to pink or white, laminae drooping to reflexed, 40-90 × 4-7 mm, glabrous or sparsely hairy abaxially. Discs conic to hemispheric, 20-30 × 20-30 mm. Disc corollas 5-6.5 mm, lobes pink to purplish. Cypselae tan, 3-4.5 mm, faces smooth, usually glabrous, sometimes (rays) hairy; pappi to ca. 1 mm (usually without major teeth). 2n = 22.

Flowering late spring-summer. Rocky, open, wooded hillsides, prairies; 100-400 m; Ark., Ga., Ill., Ky., Mo., Tenn.

Echinacea simulata has been reported as introduced in Illinois (http://www.natureserve.org).