Pinkish to lavender (sometimes white) flower heads along stems lined with short, narrow, bright-green leaves. Button-like, magenta-purple florets cover the upper 18-32 in. of the plant. A butterfly magnet.
Found in eastern North America from the east coast west to Texas and the Dakotas and as far north as southern Ontario, where it is rare and listed by the Canada Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife as endangered.