Perennial. Stems erect, ribbed, simple or branched above, 30-75-(120) cm tall, glabrescent or sparsely hairy with scabrid, multicellular or appressed cobwebby hairs. Lvs not decurrent on stems, with short scabrid hairs; lower lvs narrowly oblanceolate, simple, dentate to pinnatifid, 10-30 × 1.5-3.5 cm, with triangular-oblong, apiculate lateral lobes; upper lvs pinnatifid or entire, becoming sessile, smaller. Capitula not clustered. Involucre globose, (9)-12-18 mm diam.; outer and middle bracts ovate to broadly elliptic or triangular, not or weakly veined, with cobwebby hairs; appendages erect to recurved, pectinate-fimbriate, covering bracts, membranous, conspicuously narrowed at junction of bract, not decurrent on bract; fimbriae 8-16 on each side, brown, 2.5-4 mm long. Florets pink to purple, the outer ± radiate. Corolla eglandular. Achenes c. 2.5-3.5 mm long, sparsely pubescent; pappus 0-0.5 mm long.