General:
Annual herb from a taproot; stems straw-coloured, erect, branched, shiny, 0.3-1.0 m tall.

Leaves:
Basal leaves lacking; stem leaves lanceolate, 2-8 cm long, unstalked, toothed, weakly spined, glabrous, shiny green.

Flowers:
Heads discoid, few to many, solitary at the ends of branches; involucres cylindric, 2-4 cm tall; involucral bracts glabrous, shiny, the middle and outer ones widely spreading, entire to shallowly lobed, the tips lanceolate and bristly or softly spined, much longer than the flowers, the inner ones half as long as the outer, erect, entire with a short, terminal spine; disk flowers yellow to reddish-orange, many, tubular and perfect.

Fruits:
Achenes pyramidical, 7-9 mm long, white, smooth, shiny; pappus of the inner achenes with short, narrow scales or lacking.

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.

Illustration Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia