Plants with a short or more often elongate rhizome and commonly with short, stout stolons; stems 1-several, 2.5-9 dm, long-setose, becoming stellate- tomentose and blackish-glandular-hispid above, naked or with only 1 or 2(3) reduced lvs; basal lvs oblanceolate or narrowly elliptic, 5-25 cm (petiole included) נ1-3 cm, mostly 5-12 times as long as wide, long-setose on both sides, sometimes sparsely so above, commonly slightly stellate beneath; heads mostly 5-30 in a compact, corymbiform infl; invol 6-8 mm, hispid with blackish, gland-tipped hairs, commonly also sparsely long-setose and slightly stellate; fls bright yellow; achenes 1.5-2 mm, truncate; 2n=18, 27, 36, 45. A weed in fields, pastures, and along roadsides, occasionally in dry woods; native of Europe, now widespread in se. Can. and ne. U.S., s. to N.C., n. Ga., and Tenn. May-Sept. (H. pratense)
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.