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

General:
Perennial herb from a taproot; stem erect to ascending, simple, solitary, expanded at the base, leafless or with 1 or 2 small bracts, exuding milky juice when broken, 10-60 cm tall.

Leaves:
Basal leaves linear-oblanceolate, entire to few-toothed, often pointed at the tip, glabrous, 5-30 cm long, 2-12 mm wide; stem leaves lacking.

Flowers:
Heads with strap-shaped flowers, solitary at end of stems; involucres 10-18 mm tall; involucral bracts lanceolate, the inner ones tapering to a slender tip, the outer shorter and overlapping, glabrous or sometimes lightly black-woolly; ray flowers yellow.

Fruits:
Achenes smooth, ribbed, brown, 4-8 mm long; pappus of 30-60 brownish, finely-barbed bristles only slightly thickened at the bases.