Plants annual, not cespitose, 3-10 dm; roots fibrous. Stems erect, pilose-strigose. Leaves: petiole 0.5-2 cm; blade green, oblong to ovate, 2-10 × 0.5-5 cm, apex acute, villous. Inflorescences: heads white, yellow, red, or purple, globose, 20-28 mm diam.; bractlets crested along keel. Flowers: tube densely lanate; perianth lobes white to pink, lance-subulate, 4.4-5.2 mm, chartaceous, apex acuminate. Utricles oblong, 2 mm, apex acute. Seeds 1.5 mm. Flowering summer-fall. Waste grounds; 10-500 m; introduced; La., N.J., N.Y., Pa., S.C., Tex., Va.; native of s Asia; widely escaped from cultivation.