Plants 30-45(-80) cm. Stems proximally piloso-hirsute (hairs 2-4+ mm), sometimes stellate-pubescent as well, distally stellate-pubescent, sometimes piloso-hirsute as well. Leaves: basal 0(-2+), cauline (3-)6-12+; blades elliptic or obovate to oblanceolate, 20-35(-90) × 10-40(-50) mm, lengths 2-4+ times widths, bases cuneate to rounded (sometimes ± clasping), margins entire, apices rounded to acute, abaxial faces piloso-hirsute (hairs 2-4 mm) and stellate-pubescent, adaxial piloso-hirsute. Heads (5-)25-50 in usually narrow, thyrsiform arrays (lengths of arrays usually 3-6+ times diams., sometimes shorter). Peduncles stellate-pubescent and stipitate-glandular. Calyculi: bractlets 8-12+. Involucres cylindric to campanulate, 7-10 mm. Phyllaries 12-15+, apices rounded to acute or acuminate, abaxial faces glabrous or stellate-pubescent, rarely stipitate-glandular as well. Florets 12-20+; corollas yellow, 8-9+ mm. Cypselae urceolate, 3.5-4.5+ mm; pappi of ca. 40+, stramineous bristles in 2+ series, ca. 5 mm. Flowering (Mar-)Jul-Sep(-Oct). Openings in pine and pine-oak woods, bogs, sands; 30-600 m; Ont.; Ala., Ark., Conn., Del., D.C., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., Kans., Ky., La., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Miss., Mo., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Okla., Pa., R.I., S.C., Tenn., Tex., Va., W.Va.; Mexico, Central America.

Stems mostly solitary on a crown or short, praemorse rhizome, 3-15 dm, conspicuously spreading-hairy toward the base, the hairs rarely approaching 1 cm, becoming merely strigose-puberulent or obscurely stellate to subglabrous upward, sometimes also finely glandular; lvs finely stellate and usually also ±long-hairy, the basal or lowest cauline ones broadly oblanceolate to obovate or elliptic, 4-20 cm (including the usually short petiole) נ1-2.5 cm, deciduous or persistent, the cauline ones progressively reduced upward, soon becoming sessile and commonly somewhat clasping, the upper part of the stem naked or nearly so; infl ±elongate and openly cylindric, at least in well developed plants; the peduncles puberulent and sparsely to fairly copiously long-stipitate-glandular; invol 6-9 mm; fls 20-40; achenes 2.5-4 mm, distinctly narrowed toward the top; 2n=18. Dry, open woods, especially in sandy soil, sometimes fields and pastures; Mass. to Fla., w. to s. Ont., Kans., and Tex. July-Oct.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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