Perennials, 50-100+ cm. Stems (from short caudices or rhizomes) single, sparsely branched distally, 5-10+ dm, glabrous or glabrate proximally, puberulent distally (among heads). Leaves usually opposite (distal sometimes alternate); simple, sessile; blades pinnately nerved, lanceolate to oblong, 70-150+ × 10-30 mm (lengths mostly 2-5 times widths), bases truncate to somewhat rounded, margins serrate, apices narrowly acute to acuminate, faces glabrate (scattered, fine hairs), gland-dotted. Heads in corymbiform arrays. Phyllaries 10-15 in 2-3 series, elliptic to oblong, 2-5 × 0.5-1.5 mm, apices rounded to acute (not mucronate), abaxial faces villous to puberulent, gland-dotted. Florets 5; corollas 3-3.5 mm. Cypselae 2-3 mm; pappi of 30-40 bristles 3-4 mm. 2n = 20, 30. Flowering Jul-Sep. Dry, open, edges of mesic woods; 20-300+ m; Ala., Ark., Conn., Del., Ga., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Miss., Mo., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Pa., R.I., S.C., Tenn., Vt., Va., W.Va., Wis.