Plants perennial, glabrous or very indistinctly papillose normally only on veins of leaf blades abaxially, with fusiform, vertical rootstock. Stems erect, branched distal to middle, 40–80(–130) cm. Leaves: ocreae usually deciduous, rarely partially persistent at maturity; blade oblong-lanceolate, lanceolate, or narrowly lanceolate, normally 15–25(–30) × 2–7 cm, base cuneate or truncate, margins entire or irregularly denticulate, usually crisped and undulate, or, occasionally, flat, apex acute or subobtuse. Inflorescences terminal, occupying distal 1/2 of stem, dense or interrupted at base, narrowly paniculate, branches usually straight or occasionally arcuate. Pedicels articulated in proximal 1/3, filiform, 3–8 mm, articulation distinctly swollen. Flowers 20–25 in whorls; inner tepals orbiculate-ovate or occasionally ovate-deltoid, 3.5–5 × 3–5 mm, base truncate or slightly cordate, margins denticulate, apex acute or subacute, teeth 4–10 at each side, 0.2–1.5 mm; tubercles normally 3, equal or subequal, less than 2 times as wide as inner tepals. Achenes usually reddish brown or dark brown, 2–2.5(–3) × 1–1.5 mm. 2n = 60.