Plants 20–90 cm. Leaves mostly basal; basal petiolate (distal sessile, reduced); blades 3-nerved, ± elliptic, broadly oblanceolate, or spatulate, 12–25 cm × 14–19 mm. Heads 1–2, 26–45 mm diam. Peduncles 10–20 cm. Phyllaries 8–11 × 2–4 mm, apices acute. Paleae ± linear, apices acute. Corollas pink, lobes 3–7 × 0.5–0.8 mm. Pappi: scale margins serrulate. 2n = 18.

Flowering May–Jun. Stream banks, gravel bars; of conservation concern; 500–1500 m; Ky., N.C., Pa., Tenn., W.Va.

Marshallia grandiflora grows in the Appalachian Mountains. It is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants.