Perennial herb 0.2–1 m high; rootstock creeping, short and stout with long brown roots; stem ribbed, scabrid. Leaves opposite, the lower appressed to the ground, oblanceolate to narrowly oblanceolate, less often ovate or elliptic, 3–20 cm long, 0.5–10 cm wide, base attenuate and connate with that of the opposite leaf, margins entire, apex obtuse, scabrid or hispid-pilose on both surfaces, glandular; with 3 main veins. Capitula solitary on long stalks, sometimes apparently branched inflorescences with very long stalks to individual heads; involucre 7–15 mm long; phyllaries 4–15 mm long, pubescent or glabrous. Florets many; corolla orange or reddish-orange, 9–10 mm long, pilose. Achenes ellipsoid or narrowly obovoid, 4–9 mm long, ribbed, hispidulous, glandular; pappus of bristles 3–7 mm long, winged near base, hooked at apex.