Stems 1-80+, erect or ascending to procumbent. Inflorescences proliferating, mostly terminal, leafy, 1-80+-flowered cymes. Pedicels erect to ascending (often arcuately so) in fruit, 2-25 mm. Petals 4-1 5 times as long as sepals. 2n = 40, 44.

Flowering spring-summer. Forests, stream banks; 1000-3100 m; Ariz., Calif., Colo., N.Mex., Tex., Utah; Mexico (Baja California, Chihuahua, Coahuila).

The varietal combination Arenaria lanuginosa var. cinerascens (B. L. Robinson) Shinners, often applied to this taxon, is not correct because the epithet of the earlier autonym A. saxosa var. saxosa has priority.