Stems to 1+ m, commonly with some sterile axillary branches, minutely puberulent; lvs ovate to lance-ovate or oblong, subsessile or on petioles to 3 mm, obtuse or acute, entire or with a few obscure teeth, broadly rounded to truncate at base, the main ones 3-6 cm, a third to half as wide, glabrous, the uppermost ones minutely canescent; lateral veins 5-7 pairs; heads few, dense, 15-25 mm wide; bracts lanceolate, long-acuminate, with prominent midvein, minutely puberulent; cal minutely puberulent, its nerves evident, its teeth 1.5-2.5 mm, attenuate to aristate, 2n=76. Dry fields and upland woods on the coastal plain; N.J. to Ga. (P. aristatum; P. umbratile) Putative hybrids with nos. 4 [Pycnanthemum incanum (L.) Michx.] or 6 [Pycnanthemum pycnanthemoides (Leavenw.) Fernald] have been called P. حonotrichum Fernald.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.