Perennial scapose herb; taproot fleshy, stout; root-crown lanate. Scapes 20–80 cm tall, solitary or several, branching only distally, slender, ribbed, sparsely pilose proximally but otherwise glabrous. Leaves 2–8, in a rosette, lanceolate to obovate, 1–17 cm long, 0.5–3 cm wide, base cuneate to long-attenuate and resembling a petiole, margins remotely denticulate, apex rounded or acute, glabrous to sparsely pubescent, sometimes the veins red; rarely with few very narrow cauline leaves. Capitula several to many in lax panicles, on long slender stalks; involucre obconic-campanulate with bracteoles extending down the stalk; phyllaries dark green, linear to lanceolate, 6–10 mm long, attenuate, pubescent to tomentose, glandular. Florets many; corolla (lemon) yellow drying greenish, tube cylindric, 2.5–5 mm long, pilose, ligule erect, 3–6 mm long, the outer florets longer and more deeply lobed than the inner, pubescent beneath. Achenes 2–3.5 mm long, 4–5-angled, finely ribbed; pappus of barbellate setae 3.5–7 mm long. Fig. 16.
