Plants 40-120 cm (pleasantly fragrant). Stems whitish, leafy, densely to loosely tomentose. Leaves whitish; blades 1-nerved, filiform to linear, 10-35 × 1-2 mm, faces tomentose. Involucres 7-9 mm. Phyllarie 14-16, apices erect, obtuse, abaxial faces tomentose. Corollas 7-9.5 mm, tubes puberulent to cobwebby, lobes 0.5-1 mm, glabrous; style appendages shorter than stigmatic portions. Cypselae densely hairy; pappi 5.2-7.2 mm. 2n = 18.

Flowering late summer-fall. Well-drained, gravelly or sandy slopes; 100-2500 m; Ariz., Calif., Idaho, Nev., N.Mex., Oreg., Utah.