Herbs, matted, scapose, 0.5-1 × 0.5-2 dm, glandular-hairy, greenish. Stems matted, with persistent leaf bases, up to 5 height of plant; caudex stems matted; aerial flowering stems scapelike, erect, slender, solid, not fistulose, (0.2-)0.3-1(-1.2) dm, glandular-hairy.  Leaves basal, fasciculate in terminal tufts; petiole (0.5-)0.8-1.7(-2) cm, thinly tomentose, glandular; blade oblanceolate to elliptic, (0.3-)1-1.5(-2) × (0.2-)0.3-0.6 cm, densely white-tomentose and glandular abaxially, less so and greenish adaxially, margins plane. Inflorescences capitate, 1-2 cm; branches absent; bracts 3-5, lanceolate, scalelike, 1.5-3 mm. Peduncles absent. Involucres 5-7 per cluster, turbinate to campanulate, 2-4 × 2-3 mm, membranous, sparsely glandular to glandular-puberulent or pubescent; teeth 5, erect to spreading, 1-1.5 mm. Flowers 2-3 mm; perianth white to rose, glandular; tepals connate proximal 4, monomorphic, obovate; stamens exserted, 2-3.5(-4) mm; filaments pilose proximally. Achenes light brown, 2-2.3(-2.5) mm, glabrous.

Flowering Jul-Sep. Granitic, sandstone or limestone sandy to gravelly outcrops, slopes, and ridge tops, high-elevation sagebrush communities, subalpine and alpine conifer woodlands; 2900-3900 m; Calif., Nev.

Eriogonum gracilipes is generally found with Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva D. K. Bailey) and foxtail pine (Pinus balfouriana S. Watson) in the higher elevations of the White Mountains and on the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada immediately to the west. The White Mountains wild buckwheat is restricted to Mono and Inyo counties, California, and just enters Esmeralda County in Nevada. It is occasionally seen in cultivation.