Stems to 20-inches tall and covered with short hairs are topped with showy daisy-like flowers with purple petal-like rays and a yellow disk. Note the cluster of basal leaves and widely-spaced, spatula-shaped to narrow stem leaves.

FLOWERS: June–September. Single flower heads on stems, each with 15–55 petal-like ray flowers, both sides blue to purple, lighter with age, rays 1/2–3/4-inch long (12–20 mm); disk flowers yellow. Phyllaries in 5–6 rows, lance-shaped with tapering points, graduated lengths with outer ones shorter than inner ones; edges tan and papery with fine teeth, surfaces with few or no hairs.

LEAVES: Basal cluster often dense. Stem leaves alternate and widely spaced; blades spatula-shaped to narrow-oval with tapering base, 5/8–2 3/8-inches long (15–60 mm); surfaces smooth (usually) to covered with short, flat-lying hairs, margins entire and lined with ciliate hairs.

HABITAT: Rocky, gravelly soils, mountain ridges, meadows; pinyon-juniper-oak, yellow/ponderosa pine, Douglas fir-aspen, spruce fir forests.

ELEVATION: 6,500–10,500 feet.

RANGE: CO, NM.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Smooth Townsend Daisy, T. formosa, widespread in the mountains of southern 1/2 of NM, has hairless leaves and rays white or pink on top and lavender underneath.

NM COUNTIES: Widespread in northern and central mountains in NM in mid- to high-elevations habitats: Bernalillo, Colfax, Harding, Los Alamos, Mora, Otero, Rio Arriba, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Socorro, Taos, Torrance.