Leaves lanceolate to ovate, conspicuously auriculate-clasping, less than 5 times as long as wide. Phyllaries unequal, apical green zones lanceolate. 2n = 48.

Flowering (Jul-)Aug-Oct. Open, dry habitats, mixed- and tallgrass prairies, open pine forests, montane meadows, edges of aspen groves, edges of montane forests, clearings, roadsides; 300-2400 m; Alta., B.C., Man., Ont., Sask., Yukon; Calif., Colo., Idaho, Mont., Nebr., Nev. , N.Mex., N.Dak., S.Dak., Tex., Utah, Wash., Wyo.; Mexico (Coahuila).

The distribution of var. geyeri forms a continuous arc across the Canadian mixed-grass prairies and aspen parkland into the Northern Rockies, and south in a discontinuous manner in the Central Rockies and the Black Hills, to Guadalupe Peak, western Texas. It is disjunct in northern Coahuila, Mexico (G. L. Nesom 1993g). The species was recently reported for California (tentatively assigned to this variety), where possibly it has been introduced.