Annual or biennial. Stems erect, simple or branched, 20–90 cm. Herbage glabrous, inodorous. Leaves basal and cauline, petiolate; blades oblanceolate, 2–15 cm long, 1 to 2 times pinnately divided into dentate, lanceolate segments. Inflorescence compound-spiciform, bracts linear or lobed. Involucre hemispheric, 2–3 mm high; phyllaries green to purple, glabrous; receptacle glabrous. Disk flowers 20 to 60, the outer female, glandular; corolla ca. 1 mm long; yellow. Achenes glabrous, up to 1 mm long (
Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).