Perennials 7-35 cm; taprooted, caudex branches relatively short and thick. Stems erect (often silvery white), densely strigoso-villous, eglandular. Leaves basal (basal mostly withered or deciduous before flowering, not forming conspicuous tufts) and cauline (leaf bases broadened or not, not thickened and whitish-indurate); blades linear to linear-oblanceolate, 30-60 × 1-4 mm, cauline abruptly reduced distally, margins entire, faces silvery-strigose, eglandular. Heads 1-5(-10). Involucres 5-7 × 10-15 mm. Phyllaries in 3-4 series, glabrous or sparsely strigose proximally, minutely glandular. Ray florets 30-55; corollas white or pink, 6-13 mm, laminae reflexing. Disc corollas 3.5-5 mm. Cypselae 1.8-2.2 mm, 4-nerved, faces sparsely strigose to pilose; pappi: outer of setae or conspicuous scales, inner of 18-26 bristles.

Flowering May-Jun(-Aug). Washes on canyon bottoms, loose alluvial deposits on adjacent benches, dry calcareous (primarily limestone) slopes, less commonly in granitic areas, desert scrub, pinyon-juniper; of conservation concern; 800-2000 m; Calif.