The leaves of this coneflower are lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, and the flowers are cone-shaped disks with purple, pale pink, or rarely white spreading ray flowers. The plant has one or more stems that are mostly unbranched, and flowers bloom from June to July.

Scarlet oak is a member of the red oak group with lobed leaves and is valued for its ornamental attributes as well as its fine wood. It is considered an excellent alternative to the overplanted pin oak because it is beautiful throughout the year and tolerates alkaline soil. Leaves are simple, alternate, and deeply pinnate with seven to nine pointed lobes. The foliage is shiny and offers some of the best fall color of all the oaks. Fruits are a nut (acorn), partly enclosed by the persistent involucre -- the acorn cup. The acorn cup is turbin-shaped and smooth inside. The acorns mature at the end of the second season and sprout at the beginning of the third.