Perennials, 10-40 cm, rarely woody at base. Stems spreading to sprawling, rarely stiffly erect, usually much branched in proximal 1 / 2 - 2 / 3 ; mid inter-nodes 2-5 mm. Leaves numerous, equally spaced, mostly spreading to loosely ascending, not much reduced distally, margins pinnatifid or 2-pinnatifid, lobes linear to lanceolate, mostly 2-5 mm, faces usually hairy, rarely glabrous, usually stipitate-glandular. Heads 2-10+ in diffuse arrays. Peduncles relatively terminal and lateral, 0.5-2 cm. Involucres 8-12 mm wide. 2n = 8, 16.
Flowering spring-fall. Rocky to sandy plains and rolling hills, washes, roadsides; 300-1300 m; Alta., Man., Sask.; Ariz., Colo., Idaho, Iowa, Kans., Minn., Mont., Nebr., N.Mex., N.Dak., Okla., Utah, Wyo.; Mexico (Coahuila, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas, Zacatecas).
