Plants 10-30 cm. Stems whitish, leafy , loosely tomentose. Leaves dark green to grayish; blades 1-nerved, filiform to linear, 30-40 × 1-3 mm, faces compactly tomentose. Involucres 8-13 mm. Phyllaries 14-18, apices erect, acute to obtuse, outer abaxial faces sparsely tomentose, inner glabrous. Corollas 7.5-10 mm, tubes glabrous or moderately hairy, lobes 1.6-2.5 mm, glabrous; style appendages shorter than stigmatic portions. Cypselae densely hairy; pappi 5.2-9 mm. 2n = 18.

Flowering late summer-fall. Dry, rocky ridges and cliffs; 1200-2000 m; Idaho, Oreg., Wash.