Stems decumbent to ascending. Leaves (at least mid cauline) oblanceolate to linear, 5-10(-15) × 0.4-2 cm, margins entire or dentate to serrate (teeth remote mostly toward apices), faces glabrous or sericeous (sometimes on same leaf). Heads borne singly or (3-6) in cymiform arrays (peduncles 0.5-5 cm). Involucres ovoid to hemispheric, (8-)10-14(-17) mm. Phyllaries 10-16 in 3-4 series (chartaceous in fruiting heads, outer ovate-elliptic, apices obtuse or acute, faces glabrate or sericeous; inner oblanceolate, apices rounded, obtuse, or acute, faces glabrous). Paleae: apices obtuse to acute. Ray florets 7-15; laminae 5-8 × 2.5-4 mm. Disc florets 20-50; corollas 5-6 mm, lobes 1-1.5 mm. Cypselae 3.5-5 mm, 4-angled. 2n = 28.

Flowering late spring-summer. Rocky coasts, sandy marshes, beaches; 0-10 m; Fla.; West Indies; Bermuda.