General: Perennial herb from a fibrous-rooted, simple or slightly branched woody stem-base; stems erect, solitary or several, simple or few-branched above, glabrous or nearly so, 10-50 cm tall.
Leaves: Basal leaves thick, succulent, elliptic, egg-shaped or nearly round, stalked, 1.5-10 cm long including the stalk, 1-4 cm wide, glabrous to sparsely white woolly-hairy, toothed; stem leaves similar, lanceolate, variously toothed, cleft or lobed, progressively reduced upwards, becoming unstalked.
Flowers: Heads discoid, solitary to several at the tips of stems or branches; involucres 6-10 mm tall; involucral bracts linear-lanceolate, reddish-purple throughout or at least above the middle, rarely green, glabrous or sparsely hairy; bracteoles few, purplish; discoid or rarely short and yellow; disk flowers orange or reddish.
Fruits: Achenes oblong, nerved, glabrous; pappus of white hairlike bristles.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
