Plants 60-80 cm. Stems white to yellowish green, nearly leafless at flowering, densely tomentose. Leaves yellowish green; blades 1-nerved, filiform, 10-30 × 0.5-1.5 mm, faces glabrate. Involucres 8.5-12. Phyllaries 20-26, apices erect, acute, abaxial faces tomentose to glabrate. Corollas 7-10.9 mm, tubes puberulent, lobes 0.9-2 mm, glabrous; style appendages longer than stigmatic portions. Cypselae densely hairy; pappi 6.3-9.8 mm. 2n = 18.

Flowering late summer-fall. Dry scrub Artemisia, pinyon, Atriplex, Joshua tree communities; 400-2400 m; Calif., Nev.

Variety mohavensis may intergrade with vars. hololeuca and oreophila. It grows in southern Nevada and southern California.