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General:
Perennial herb from a taproot and a simple or branching base; stems leafless, 1-several, exuding milky juice when broken, 10-60 cm tall.
Leaves:
All basal, extremely variable, narrowly linear-lanceolate to broadly oblanceolate, entire to laciniate or few lobed, 5-35 cm long, 1-30 mm wide, rounded to long-pointed, usually glabrate with sparse hairs along the midrib below, margins usually fringed with small hairs toward the base, the stalks purplish.
Flowers:
Heads with strap-shaped flowers, solitary; involucres top-shaped to narrowly bell-shaped; involucral bracts in about 3 series, slightly or not at all graduated, narrow, long-pointed, the outer series fringed with small hairs, usually glabrous or sometimes long-hairy on the surface; receptacles naked; ray flowers burnt orange, rarely yellow, commonly turning deep pink to purple in drying or with age.
Fruits:
Achenes smooth, 5-9 mm long, rather abruptly narrowed to a beak, which varies from about half to slightly longer than the body; pappus of numerous hairlike bristles, 9-14 mm long, silky white or sordid.
Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
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