Plants 7-35 cm. Stems (peduncles) ebracteate. Leaves: blades linear-lanceolate, 7-30 cm, bases broadly attenuate, margins entire, plane or undulate, ciliolate, (apices acuminate) faces glabrous or villous. Involucres 17-27 mm. Phyllaries 13-34, often red-striped or dotted, lanceolate, apices acuminate, faces glabrous. Florets 13-80; ligules 15-25 mm. Cypselae brown, 7-10 mm, narrowed distally, not beaked; pappi of 40-80, intergradent, smooth to barbellulate bristles and ± subulate to setiform scales 8-10 mm. 2n = 18. Flowering Apr-Jul. Prairie pastures, slopes, hillsides, and ridges, in sandy, gravelly, or clay soils, various grassland associations; 300-2300 m; Alta., Man., Sask.; Ark ., Colo., Ill., Iowa, Kans., Minn., Mo., Mont., Nebr., N.Mex., N.Dak., Okla., S.Dak., Tex., Wis., Wyo.