Perennials, to 55 cm; taprooted. Leaves (proximal sometimes lanceolate, usually pinnately lobed; cauline mostly 1-2-pinnately lobed) 0.5-9 × 0.2-6.7 cm, lobes 2-7, linear to narrowly lanceolate-obovate, 0.5-4 mm wide, faces strigose and gland-dotted. Heads 1-8+, held just beyond leaves. Peduncles 0.3-6.5 cm (± uniformly green, not ribbed). Phyllaries 10-12, outer lanceolate, 1.2-6 × 0.5-2.5 mm, inner lanceolate-ovate, 1.2-4 × 0.3-1.5 mm. Paleae oblong, 2-4 × 1.5-2.5 mm, resin glands linear to oblanceolate, 1-2 mm. Ray florets 5-10; corollas yellow or purplish yellow to purple, laminae linear to elliptic-oblanceolate, 3-10 × 2-6 mm. Discs subspheric to ovoid or ellipsoid, 5-15 × 5-14 mm. Disc florets 50-200+; corolla greenish yellow, sometimes purplish distally, 1.2-2.5 mm; style branches 0.8-1.2 mm, proximal 1/2 stigmatic, apices subulate. Cypselae oblong-oblique, 1.9-2.8 × 1.2-2 mm, adaxial margins usually winged and distally ciliate, apices ciliate; pappi coroniform (of connate scales, 0.2-1.5 mm). 2n = 32. Flowering May-Oct. Prairies, high plains, rocky hillsides; 300-2500 m; Ariz., Colo., Kans., N.Mex., Okla., Tex.; Mexico (Chihuahua).
