Plants 60-150+ cm. Leaves: apices usually recurved to coiled, faces initially floccose to tomentulose, soon glabrescent. Peduncles distally inflated. Involucres conic to urceolate in bud. Outer florets usually slightly shorter than phyllaries (see discussion for exception); corollas yellow. 2n = 24. Flowering early summer. Disturbed sites; 700-800 m; Ariz., Idaho, Wash., Wyo. Tragopogon miscellus has been reported from near Gardiner, Montana; it is no longer present there.

Plants of Tragopogon miscellus are larger and more robust than those of T. pratensis. They are allote-traploids, formed (probably repeatedly) from hybrids between T. pratensis and T. dubius. Outer florets are shorter than the phyllaries except at some sites in Pullman, Washington, where outer florets equal or surpass the phyllaries. (The different inflorescence morphs result from reciprocal polyploid origins.) F1 hybrids between T. dubius and T. pratensis (= T. ×crantzii Dichtl) may resemble T. miscellus but are less robust, have low pollen stainability, and set few, if any, seeds. Tragopogon miscellus does not occur in Europe, but hybrids between T. dubius and T. pratensis occur occasionally.