Distribution: Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona, east to the Rocky Mountains and northern Great Plains.

Habitat: Prairies and forest openings from the lowlands to middle elevations in the mountains.

Flowers: June-August

Origin: Native

Growth Duration: Perennial

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Pollination: Bees, butterflies, flies, apomixis?

Perennial from a short, woody base, 1.5-8 dm. tall, the stems clustered, amply leafy, glabrous below the inflorescence.

Leaves glabrous, triple-nerved, entire, the lower oblanceolate or spatulate, petiolate, mostly deciduous, the other becoming sessile but ample.

Heads 1-13 in a open inflorescence; involucre 6-9 mm. high, glandular; rays 65-150, blue or rarely white, 9-18 mm. long and 1 mm. wide; pappus 20-30 bristles, a few of the outer ones shorter.

Achenes 2-nerved.