Plants 30-40(-100) cm. Basal leaves: blades lanceolate to oblong-ovate (whitish to gray or green), 20-30(-40) cm, margins entire, not ciliate, faces sparsely to densely tomentose to tomentulose (usually gland-dotted as well), glabrescent (nearly bald in age); cauline similar, smaller distally. Heads 2-3 in racemiform to corymbiform arrays or borne singly. Involucres campanulate to hemispheric, 20-25(-30) mm diam. Phyllaries 12-22, subequal to unequal, herbaceous, margins not ciliate, faces tomentose to tomentulose; outer 20-40 mm (equaling or surpassing inner). Ray florets 6-15; laminae 15-45 mm. Cypselae 9-10 mm, distally strigillose. 2n = 38.

Flowering Jun-Jul. Meadows, dry to wet, open sites, openings in conifer forests; 900-2200(-3000) m; Calif., Nev., Oreg.

Wyethia mollis grows in the Sierra Nevada and the Cascade Range.