Athanasia obovata Walter, Fl. Carol., 201. 1788; Marshallia obovata var. platyphylla (M. A. Curtis) Beadle & F. E. Boynton; M. obovata var. scaposa Channell

Plants 10–60 cm. Leaves mostly basal (distal slightly reduced); basal petiolate; blades 3-nerved, elliptic, oblanceolate, or spatulate, 5–10 cm × 5–15 mm. Heads 1–2, 20–30 mm diam. Peduncles 20–40 cm. Phyllaries 5–10 × 2–3 mm, apices obtuse. Paleae linear-spatulate, apices obtuse. Corollas white, lobes 2.5–6 × 0.5–1 mm. Pappi: scale margins entire or denticulate. 2n = 18.

Flowering May–Jun. Understories, pine forests; 100–1000 m; Ala., Fla., Ga., N.C., S.C., Va.

Marshallia obovata grows on the piedmont and on the Atlantic coastal plain. Scapiform plants with the leafy parts of stems less than ¹/4 lengths of peduncles are sometimes known as var. scaposa. They occur along the inner Atlantic coastal plain.