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General:
Biennial or perennial herb from fibrous roots; stems erect, usually branched, sparsely to densely hairy with stiff, spreading hairs, 7-70 cm tall.
Leaves:
Basal leaves oblanceolate, entire to irregularly toothed, abruptly sharp-pointed to obtuse or rounded at the tip, tapering gradually to the winged stalk, 1-15 cm long (including the stalk), 2-18 mm wide, hairy like the stems; stem leaves similar to the basal, becoming linear to bractlike upwards.
Flowers:
Heads with ray and disk flowers, solitary to many, usually borne on long, nearly naked stalks, the disks 10-20 mm wide; involucres 5-9 mm tall; involucral bracts subequal or slightly graduated, linear, with long-pointed tips, appressed stiff-hairy, not glandular, often with an evident brown midvein; ray flowers 125-175, blue or pink, rarely white, 8-15 mm long, about 1 mm wide; disk flowers 4.0-5.5 mm long.
Fruits:
Achenes 2-nerved, hairy; pappus double, the inner of bristles, the outer of sometimes sparse scales.
Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
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