Perennials, 5-16 cm (often cespitose); rhizomatous, fibrous-rooted, thickened caudices or rhizomes branched, woody. Stems erect, loosely strigose to hirsute, eglandular. Leaves mostly basal (usually persistent); basal and proximal cauline blades oblanceolate to oblanceolate-spatulate, 20-50(-70) × 3-9 mm, distal bractlike (mid bases subclasping), margins entire with pair of teeth, faces glabrous or sparsely strigoso-hirsute, eglandular. Heads 1(-3). Involucres 5-6 × 8-13 mm. Phyllaries in (2-)3-4 series (usually purplish), coarsely strigoso-hirsute along midribs, sparsely to densely minutely glandular (glands sometimes obscured by hairs). Ray florets 44-75; corollas white to lavender, 8-13 mm, laminae coiling slightly at tips. Disc corollas 2.6-3.1 mm. Cypselae 1.1-1.3 mm, 2-nerved, faces sparsely strigose; pappi: outer of setae, inner of 13-18 bristles.

Flowering May-Jun. Andesitic dikes in otherwise rhyolitic rock, bedrock cracks in open areas, upper montane to subalpine conifer forests; of conservation concern; 2900-3100 m; N.Mex.