Colonial perennial from creeping roots; lvs all or nearly all alternate, densely and conspicuously short-white-hairy beneath, greener and less hairy above, openly subbipinnatifid to subtripinnatifid with short and broad ultimate segments, the slender midstrip beset with small segments between the major ones; fruiting invols 4-6 mm, 2-seeded, with 2 sharp beaks and to 10 short spines in one or more cycles. Plains sp., casually intr. as far e. as Wis. and Ill. May-Aug. (Franseria discolor; Gaertneria d. not Franseria tomentosa, properly A. grayi (A. Nelson) Shinners, another Great Plains sp., with less dissected lvs that have a large terminal segment)
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.