Perennials, 10-55 cm; taprooted, caudices branched. Stems (greenish) erect, sparsely strigose, eglandular. Leaves basal (usually withering by flowering, not forming conspicuous tufts) and cauline (leaf bases broadened or not, not thickened and whitish-indurate); basal and proximalmost cauline blades oblanceolate-spatulate, 20-50 × 2-4 mm, margins entire, faces densely and closely strigose, eglandular; cauline abruptly reduced to erect linear bracts 3-20 × 0.5 mm, relatively even-sized, at least beyond midstems to immediately proximal to heads. Heads (1-)3-10, from branches well beyond midstems. Involucres 3-5 × 5-8 mm. Phyllaries in 2-3 series, sparsely strigose or glabrous, densely minutely glandular. Ray florets 10-14(-20); corollas white to blue, 4-8 mm, laminae (0.7-1 mm wide) coiling. Disc corollas 2-3.5 mm (viscid-puberulent, hairs multicellular, blunt). Cypselae 1.5-2.5 mm, 3-4-orange-nerved, faces sparsely strigose; pappi: outer of inconspicuous setae, inner of 20-25 bristles.

Flowering Jun-Sep. Rocky or sandy soil, soil pockets and crevices in sandstone, canyon bottoms, river terraces; 1100-1700 m; Ariz., Colo., Utah.

Erigeron sparsifolius is partially sympatric with Erigeron utahensis. They are distinct in morphology and phenology, and intermediates are not common.