Family, Composite. Color, dark crimson. Leaves, grass-like, clasping the stem. Heads, many-flowered, large, solitary. Peduncles, somewhat thickened below the heads of flowers.

This plant may often be found growing wild along the borders of gardens and farms, escaped from cultivation. Its stem is stout, 2 or 3 feet high. Name means goat's beard, probably suggested by the long, plumose bristles of the pappus.