Perennials, 50-100 cm, colonial; woody rhizomatous. Stems 1-5+, erect (stout, brown), proximally ± hispid, distally sparsely strigose, distally stipitate-glandular. Leaves stiff (dark green), greatly reduced distally, margins entire, scabrous; basal early deciduous, sessile, blades (3-nerved) oblanceolate, 40-80 × 4-12 mm, bases attenuate, apices obtuse to acute, faces sparsely scabrous; proximal cauline usually withered by flowering, sessile, blades oblanceolate to lanceolate-oblong, 20-60 × 5-20 mm, bases cordate-clasping, apices acute, mucronulate, faces glabrate to sparsely scabrous, stipitate-glandular; distal sessile, blades lanceolate to oblong, 20-40 × 5-8 mm, bases cuneate, apices acute, mucronulate to white-spinulose, faces glabrous or scabrous, sparsely stipitate-glandular. Heads in racemiform to paniculiform arrays, branches patent or ascending with 1-5+ heads. Peduncles 3-5 cm, short-strigose, stipitate-glandular, bracts spreading to reflexed, lanceolate-oblong, 5-10 mm, little reduced distally, grading into phyllaries. Involucres campanulate, 8.5-12 mm. Phyllaries in 3-4 series, spatulate-oblanceolate, unequal, bases ± indurate, margins scarious, green zones covering distal portion, apices spreading to strongly reflexed, faces sparsely scabrous, moderately stipitate-glandular. Ray florets 14-35; corollas light to reddish purple, laminae 11-15(-20) × 1.5-2.5 mm. Disc florets 25-35; corollas yellow becoming reddish purple, 5.5-8 mm, lobes narrowly triangular, 0.7-1 mm. Cypselae light brown, cylindric to narrowly obovoid, ± compressed, 3-4.5 mm, 7-10-nerved (brown), faces moderately strigose; pappi tan, 5.5-6 mm. 2n = 30, 60.

Flowering (Sep-)Oct(-Nov). Sandy soils, sand hills, roadsides, edges of deciduous woods and thickets; 0-200+ m; N.C., S.C., Va.