Subshrubs, 0.6-1.3 × 2-5 dm. Stems: caudex spreading; aerial flowering stems 0.3-0.6 dm, floccose to subglabrous. Leaves: blade elliptic to ovate, 0.5-1 × (0.2-)0.3-0.5(-0.6) cm, densely whitish-brown-tomentose abaxially, floccose to subglabrous adaxially, margins not revolute. Inflorescences 0.5-3 cm; branches floccose to subglabrous. Involucres (2-)2.5-3 mm, usually glabrous. Flowers (2.5-)3-3.5(-4) mm; perianth white to reddish. Achenes 2.5-3 mm.

Flowering Jul-Sep. Granitic slopes, montane conifer woodlands; 2600-2900 m; Calif.

Variety johnstonii is rare and known only from the upper reaches of the San Gabriel Mountains near the San Bernardino-Los Angeles county line.