Annual or perennial, erect, glabrous or sparsely glandular, hispid, branched herb; leaves cauline, rosulate radical or alternate, usually sessile, oblong, amplexicaul with acute auricles, margins runcinate or serrate-dentate, pinnately veined; heads homogamous, yellow, ligulate, solitary on long peduncles, involucres campanulate or cylindric, often dilated, thickened, conic at the base, bracts many seriate, herbaceous, lanceolate, glabrous; receptacle flat, naked; all florets ligulate; corolla 5-toothed, oblong, narrowed at ends; anthers sagitate below; achenes compressed, faces 3-ribbed, muricate between the ribs; pappus copius, hairs seriate, very slender, simple, usually white, united at the base into a deciduous ring.