Plants 35–70 cm. Distal stems and peduncles eglandular or sparsely to moderately stipitate-glandular. Distal leaf faces moderately hispido-strigose, usually eglandular, rarely sparsely stipitate-glandular. 2n = 36.

Flowering Jul–Oct(–Dec). Prairies, sandy plains, limestone bluffs, ledges and glades, sandy banks, slopes of sandhills, dry rocky or sandy barrens, railroad rights-of-way, sandy disturbed areas, and in open oak woods of the central oak-hickory vegetation zone; 100–300 m; Ark., Ill., Ind., Mo.

Variety camporum grows on bluffs along the Mississippi River, sandy areas near rivers, and roadsides in eastern Missouri, northern Arkansas, Illinois, and western Indiana. It may be similar in stature and general appearance to Heterotheca villosa var. minor and var. villosa, whose ranges just reach the northwestern limit of distribution of var. camporum in northern Illinois. Possibly it was introduced in Nebraska in the late 1800s but did not survive. Sparse serration of the mid cauline leaf margins distinguishes var. camporum from varieties of H. villosa.