Stems minutely puberulent-hirtellous (hairs spreading to slightly deflexed). Leaves (and phyllaries) gland-dotted (each pit with a glandular hair). Involucres 7-10(-14) × 3-5 mm. Phyllaries: inner 10-13 × 2-3 mm, apices abruptly short-acuminate, mid and inner often apiculate to mucronulate. Cypselae 4-5 mm. 2n = 20.

Flowering Aug-Sep(-Oct). Longleaf pine savannas, longleaf pine-turkey oak, scrub oak, sand pine-evergreen oak scrub, pine-palmetto scrub, dunes, sand ridges, flats, woodland edges; 0-200 m; Ala., Fla., Ga., N.C., S.C.