annual, nearly glabrous; stem erect, fistular, with spreading branches; leaves eared and stem-clasping at base, oblong or oblong-hastate, or the lower ones pinnatifid, acute, unequally toothed or incised, the serratures deltoid, callous-tipped; heads in a loose, corymbose panicle, radiate; inv. calyculate, the scales glabrous, oblong-acuminate, brown-tipped, membrane-edged; achenes striate, setulose. 1–2 ft. high, loosely much branched, erect or spreading. Leaves 1 1/2–2 inches long, very variable, in β. the upper leaves are often obovate, in α. usually broad based, but all forms occur indiscriminately together. Inv. scales brown or black-tipped, those of the calycle either ciliate, pilose, or quite glabrous. Drege's “S. ustulatus” DC. is undistinguishable from this; Ecklon's (in Hb. Cap.) is S. maritimus, Linn.
