Plants 2-12 dm, hairy or subglabrous; lvs numerous, strongly or scarcely punctate, all linear or nearly so, the lowest ones 6-30 cm × 2-7 mm (or a little wider in very robust plants), the margins irregularly ciliate toward the base; heads 10-many in an elongate, spiciform (seldom branched) infl, suberect on short, closely ascending peduncles, or subsessile, only seldom turned away from the axis; invol turbinate or subcylindric, 7-12 mm, its bracts relatively thin, scarcely to sometimes evidently punctate, ±ciliolate on the scarious margins, mostly broadly rounded and often purplish upward; fls mostly (6)7-14 per head, the cor hairy toward the base within; pappus barbellate; 2n=20. Dry, open woods, especially in sandy soil among pines; coastal plain and piedmont from N.J. and s. Pa. to Ga., nw. Fla., and Ala., and occasionally extending into the mts. Aug.-Oct.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.