Plants 20-80+ cm. Leaves: basal blades lanceolate, 2-6 cm × 5-15(-30) mm; cauline blades broadly elliptic to lanceolate, (3-)5-7+ cm × 12-20 mm, bases cordate, clasping (faces usually glabrous, adaxial venation raised, reticulation prominent). Involucres 8-12(-20) mm diam. Outer phyllaries lance-linear, 5-7 × 1.5-2.5 mm; inner similar, more scarious. Ray florets 35-70; corolla laminae 10-15+ mm. Disc corollas 5-7+ mm. Cypselae 1.5-2 mm, glabrous; pappi of 30-40+, distinct or basally connate, barbellate bristles 7-8 mm. 2n = 16.
Flowering mid-late summer. Roadsides, waste places; introduced; Mass., N.Y.; Europe.
Inula salicina is probably an occasional escape from garden trash and not truly established in the flora.