Herbage usually copiously arachnose, tomentose, or villous at flowering. Leaves: basal and proximal cauline distinctly petiolate; blades (cauline) usually lanceolate to oblanceolate. Heads 6-12(-30+). Phyllaries linear-subulate, 8-12 mm, tips usually green, minutely, if at all, black. Ray florets usually 5; corollas yellow, laminae mostly 5-8 mm.

Flowering spring. Openings in coniferous woodlands and woodland-sagebrush associations; 100-3600 m; Calif., Nev., Oreg.

Variety major is most frequent in the Sierra Nevada, especially on the western slope; eastward, it passes into var. exaltatus.