Perennial herb with erect stems 1.4–2.4 m high; taproot fleshy or semi-woody; stems solitary or in pairs, often purplish proximally, ribbed, sparsely glandular-setose with purple setae. Leaves all cauline, lanceolate, 4–24 cm long, 1–4.5 cm wide, base cuneate to rounded or semi-amplexicaul, margins sinuate-dentate, apex acute, sparsely setose to subglabrous. Capitula many, in lax panicle to 40 cm long; involucre cylindric to narrowly campanulate, 6–10.5 mm long; phyllaries often purplish, ovate to lanceolate, 3–10 mm long, glabrous except for the ciliate margins in the outermost and the ciliate-lobed apices. Florets ± 5 per capitulum; corolla yellow, tube cylindric, 2–2.5 mm long, ligule erect, 4–5.5 mm long. Achenes orange to dark brown, flattened ellipsoid, 4–4.5 mm long, not or hardly beaked, 1(–2)-ribbed on each side, minutely puberulous; pappus white, 3–5.5 mm long. Fig. 20/4 (achene).
