E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

General:
Annual herb from a taproot; stems erect, solitary or more often several, simple or sparingly branched, minutely bristly or glabrous, exuding milky juice when broken, 10-40 cm tall.

Leaves:
Basal leaves well-developed, oblanceolate, entire or lobed, glabrous to fringed on the margins, 2.5-15 cm long and 7-35 mm wide; stem leaves lacking or if present then minute and bractlike.

Flowers:
Heads with strap-shaped flowers, solitary to many in a terminal, flat-topped inflorescence; involucres 8-10 mm tall, 0.5-1.5 cm wide, increasing to 17 mm tall in fruit; involucral bracts spirally arranged, lanceolate, glabrous; ray flowers yellow.

Fruits:
Achenes nerved with minute projections, 4-5 mm long, inner ones with a well-developed beak as long as the body; pappus double, the inner ones of feathery bristles, the outer ones shorter and usually merely finely-barbed.