Leaf blades deltate to narrowly ovate-lanceolate, 6-12 × 2-5 cm, faces moderately to densely scabrellous to scabrous. Flowering late spring-early fall. Open woods, prairies, old pastures, edges of fields, meadows, road banks, ditches; 0-2300 m; Man., N.B., Nfld. and Labr. (Nfld.), Ont., Que., Sask.; Ark., Colo., Conn., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., La., Maine, Mass., Mich., Minn., Mo., Nebr., N.H., N.Mex., N.Dak., Ohio, Okla., R.I., S.Dak., Tex., Vt., Wis. Variety scabra is reported as introduced in British Columbia, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, and perhaps Quebec (H. J. Scoggan 1978-1979, part 4).

Varieties (subspp.) scabra and occidentalis intergrade so completely and intermediate plants are so numerous that it seems futile to draw taxonomic lines. In general, some plants traditionally treated as var. scabra (in the strict sense) have somewhat narrower leaf blades and longer petioles than most plants treated as var. occidentalis.