Plants 30-100 cm. Stems with 20-85 leaves or leafy bracts proximal to heads. Leaves: basal and proximal cauline usually narrowly lanceolate-spatulate, sometimes broader, mostly 100-500 × 25-50(-55) mm, glabrous or hirtello-puberulent (gland-dotted). Heads usually 9-20. Florets 30-80. Flowering Aug-Sep(-Oct). Prairies, glades, open woods, bluff ledges, railroads, rocky limestone soils, red clays, jack pine, pine-oak, oak-juniper, oak-hickory, aspen; 100-500 m; Ark., Ill., Ind., Mich., Mo., N.Y., Ohio, Pa., W.Va., Wis. Plants of var. nieuwlandii are usually relatively tall and have relatively numerous, even-sized, densely arranged, lanceolate cauline leaves.