Subshrubs, 15-50 cm; caudices branched, taproots 4-15+ cm. Stems 5-10+, often branched in distal ¹ / 3 , moderately stout to stout, not wiry, hispid or minutely stipitate-glandular. Leaves: basal withering by flowering; cauline evenly spaced, blades narrowly to broadly oblong to obovate, 5-60 × 2-10 mm, gradually reduced distally, margins unevenly, often coarsely serrate, teeth 5-14 per side, each with white bristle 0.5-2 mm, faces hispidulous and often stipitate-glandular. Peduncles moderately to densely stipitate-glandular, usually ebracteate. Involucres depressed-hemispheric, 0.4-0.7 × 0.9-1.5 cm. Phyllaries in 4-6 series, broadly linear to lanceolate, 1.5-7 mm, apices obtuse to short-acuminate, tipped by white seta, faces densely stipitate-glandular. Ray florets 12-28; corollas usually white, often pink- or purple-tinged abaxially, rarely purple, tubes 1.5-3.2 mm, laminae 8-18.5 × 1.9-4.7 mm. Disc florets 50-120+; corollas 4-6.1 mm. Cypselae oblong to obovoid, 1.5-2.6 mm, 8-14-ribbed, faces moderately to densely whitish to tawny hairy; pappi whitish to tawny, 1.3-5 mm, a few abaxial bristles to ¹ / 3 of longest. 2n = 8.

Flowering spring-fall. Gypseous, calcareous, or sandy plains, badlands, outcrops; 900-2400 m; N.Mex, Tex; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, San Luis Potosí).