Plants 60-105 cm. Corms mostly globose. Stems glabrous. Leaves: basal and proximal cauline 1-nerved, linear-oblanceolate to narrowly oblanceolate, 80-210 × 2-5(-10) mm, gradually or abruptly reduced distally, essentially glabrous (sparsely piloso-ciliate along proximal margins), gland-dotted. Heads in loose, racemiform arrays (internodes 2-14 mm). Peduncles 0 or (ascending) 2(-7) mm. Involucres turbinate, 6-8 × 5-7 mm. Phyllaries in 3-4(-5) series, mostly oblong, unequal, essentially glabrous, margins with hyaline borders (0.2-0.4 mm wide), sometimes sparsely ciliolate, apices rounded. Florets (7-)8-11(-13); corolla tubes pilose inside. Cypselae 2.8-3.5(-3.8) mm; pappi: lengths ± equaling corollas, bristles barbellate. 2n = 20.

Flowering Aug-Oct(-Nov). Longleaf pine-scrub oak, pine, live oak-pine, deciduous oak-pine, deciduous flatwoods, sandhills, savanna edges, edges of cypress depressions, depression meadows, live oak-pine-palmetto hammocks, sandy clay or loam, rarely clay; 0-300(-500) m; Ala., Fla., Ga., Miss.