Plants 50-160 cm. Stems yellowish green to nearly white, leafy, compactly, smoothly tomentose. Leaves greenish; blades 3-nerved, broadly linear, 30-90 × 1-3 mm, faces often tomentulose. Involucres 6-8 mm. Phyllaries 14-18, apices erect, acute, abaxial faces usually glabrous, outer sometimes sparsely hairy. Corollas 7-9+ mm, tubes puberulent or glabrous, lobes 0.6-1.5, glabrous; style appendages longer than stigmatic portions. Cypselae densely hairy; pappi 4.9-6.5 mm. 2n = 18.

Flowering late summer-fall. On plains in slightly alkaline soils; 200-2000 m; Sask.; Ariz., Colo., Idaho, Kans., Mont., Nebr., Nev., N.Mex., N.Dak., Okla., S.Dak., Tex., Utah, Wyo.