General: Perennial herb from a fibrous root; stems solitary, stout, branched in the inflorescence, 60-200 cm tall.
Leaves: Stem leaves opposite or whorled, mostly in 3's or 4's, lanceolate to lance-elliptic, narrowing abruptly to the stalk, 6-20 cm long and 2-7 cm wide, sharply saw-toothed, lower surfaces covered with spreading, curly hairs.
Flowers: Heads discoid, clustered in somewhat flat-topped clusters, rarely solitary; involucres 6.5-9 mm tall; involucral bracts graduated, often purplish; disk flowers purple, 9-22, tubular and perfect.
Fruits: Achenes 5-angled, glandular; pappus of numerous hairlike bristles.
Wet to moist swamp or pond margins and forest openings in the lowland zone; rare in the lower Fraser Valley; E to NF and S to UT and NM, probably introduced.
