Biennial with cylindric rootstock. Stems erect, weakly ribbed, glabrous, 30-80 cm tall. Lvs linear to lanceolate-subulate, entire, acuminate, 5-20 × 0.5-1.5 cm; base sheathing; margins undulate or flat. Capitula solitary; peduncles swollen beneath capitula (> 5 mm thick at fruiting). Involucre with a band of sparse minute crisped hairs at base; involucral bracts c. 8, lanceolate-acuminate, 4-6 × 0.5-1 cm at fruiting, glabrous or with fine tomentum near apex. Corolla yellow, < involucre. Achenes fusiform, ribbed, the outer coarsely muricate to spinulose, the inner almost smooth; body 12-15 mm long; beak 1-1.5× length of body, distinctly clavate at apex. Pappus sordid, 2-2.5-(3) cm long, plumose, in 2 rows, seated on a distinct tomentose annulus.