Plants (80-)90-130 cm. Corms globose, irregularly cylindric, narrowly ovoid, or fusiform and caudexlike. Stems glabrous (often sparsely sessile-glandular). Leaves: basal (often withering before flowering), 1- or 3-5-nerved) linear-elliptic, linear-spatulate, or linear-oblanceolate, (170-)200-400 × 3-10 mm, gradually reduced distally, essentially glabrous, gland-dotted (proximal margins pilose-ciliate). Heads in dense, spiciform arrays. Peduncles 0 or (spreading-ascending) 1-2 mm. Involucres turbinate-campanulate, (7-)8-10 × (8-)9-11(-12) mm. Phyllaries in (3-)4(-5) series, ovate to oblong, obovate, or spatulate, weakly unequal, essentially glabrous, margins with (pinkish purple) hyaline borders, erose to lacerate, ciliolate, apices broadly rounded. Florets 9-17; corolla tubes pilose inside. Cypselae ca. 4 mm; pappi: lengths ± equaling corollas, bristles barbellate.

Flowering (Aug-)Sep-Oct(-Nov). Sandy pinelands, moist sites dominated by slash pine, sabal palmetto, or mixture of the two; 0-30 m; Fla.