Herbs, annual, 10-60 cm. Leaves cauline, sessile to subsessile; blade linear, oblong, or spatulate, 5-10 cm × 4-12(-35) mm, densely strigillose or hirtellous to ± villous, margin usually entire, sometimes toothed or lobed. Phyllaries 18-28, narrowly triangular-attenuate to linear-attenuate, 6-14 mm, margin usually ciliate with jointed hairs. Receptacular setae 1.5-3 mm. Ray florets usually 8-14; corolla usually reddish to purplish proximally, yellow to orange distally, rarely yellow, reddish, or purplish throughout, 13-30 mm. Disk florets numerous; corolla yellowish to purple or brown, often bicolored; tube 0.8-1.2 mm; throat campanulate to urceolate, 3-4 mm; lobes deltate to ovate, often attenuate. Achenes obpyramidal, 2-2.5 mm; hairs 1.5-2 mm, inserted at base and on angles; pappus of 7 or 8 deltate to lanceolate, aristate scales 4-7 mm. Fl. May-Aug. 2n = 34.

Widely cultivated and naturalized in China [native to North America].