General: Perennial herb from a fibrous-rooted, usually short rhizome or woody stem-base; stems erect, branched above, glabrous or nearly so, 0.4-1.2 m tall.
Leaves: Basal leaves stalked and soon deciduous; stem leaves lanceolate to broadly lanceolate or egg-shaped, unstalked and usually clasping, 8-18 cm long, 1-3.5 cm wide, entire or shallowly toothed, glabrous or nearly so and tending to be glaucous.
Flowers: Heads with ray and disk flowers, few to many in an open, round-topped inflorescence; involucres 5-7 mm tall; involucral bracts graduated, linear or often awl-shaped, sharply pointed with elongate green tips, margins fringed with small hairs; ray flowers 15-30, blue or purple, 6-10 mm long; disk flowers yellow.
Fruits: Achenes 4-5 nerved, glabrous; pappus usually reddish.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
Mesic to dry meadows and forests in the lowland and montane zones; common in S BC east of the Coast-Cascade Mountains and S of 55degreeN, less frequent in NE BC and S Vancouver Island, lacking from NW BC; N to NT, E to ON and S to KS, MO, UT, NM and OR.
