Plants 8-30+ cm (strongly self-incompatible); branching ± pseudo-dichotomous, distal stems eglandular or sparsely glandular. Leaves: blades green, usually eglandular (distal eglandular or stipitate-glandular, glands mostly purple, some yellow). Heads in paniculiform arrays. Calyculi 0. Involucres ± hemispheric to obovoid. Phyllaries 4-5 mm, piloso-hirsute on angles, hairs ± antrorsely curved, 0.5-1+ mm. Ray laminae 7-13 mm. Cypselae glossy. 2n = 14.

Flowering Apr-Jun. Openings in chaparral and woodlands, serpentine slopes; 70-700 m; Calif.

Lagophylla minor is known only from serpentine of the North Inner Coast Ranges and in the northern Sierra Nevada foothills.