Plants 60-80 cm. Stems glabrate, glandular. Leaves linear to narrowly oblanceolate (principal 1- or 3-nerved), 8-35 × 1-2(-3) mm, margins entire or sharply serrate.

Flowering Jun-Nov. Rocky slopes near beaches, sea bluffs, serpentine rock outcrops, chaparral, brushy canyons, woodlands; of conservation concern; 0-100 m; Calif.

Known only from coastal scrub in the Santa Lucia Range, northwestern San Luis Obispo County, subsp. glabrata is generally reduced in most characters than subsp. plummerae, with smaller heads and fewer florets (R. M. Beauchamp and J. Henrickson 1995).