Arnica latifolia is a perennial herb growing from a long rhizome and producing a hairy, mostly naked stem 10 to 50 centimeters tall.

It has a cluster of leaves around its base and usually a few pairs along the lower part of the stem.

[5] The inflorescence contains one or more daisy-like flower heads lined in glandular phyllaries.

[5] The plant was first described in 1832 by German-Russian botanist Gustav Heinrich von Bongard, based on material collected near Sitka, now in Alaska (then called Russian America).

[6][7][8] The species could be confused with the similar Arnica cordifolia, from which it can be distinguished by the leaves.