A low growing perennial of prairies with clumped, erect stems that are often less than 1 foot tall. The less than 5 inch long and ¼ inch wide leaves are pitted or dotted beneath. The dense, leafy, spikes at the top of the stems have clusters of purple flower heads. Each flower head has 3 to 8 disk flowers and the erect bracts enclosing them are sharply pointed.