Plants erect, 1-3.5 × 1-2 dm. Aerial flowering stems 1-2 dm, floccose. Leaves: petiole 0.5-2.5(-3) cm; blade lanceolate or oblanceolate to narrowly elliptic, 1-2.5(-3) × 0.3-0.5(-0.8) cm. Inflorescences subcapitate, umbellate-cymose, or cymose, open and divided 1-3 times; branches 2-20 × 2-20 cm. Involucres 2-5 per cluster, (2-)3-4 mm. Flowers 2.5-5(-6) mm.

Flowering Jul-Oct. Sandy to gravelly (often cal-careous) or shaley to clayey or gypsum flats and washes, grassland, creosote bush, or mesquite communities, pinyon and/or juniper woodlands; 900-2400 m; Colo., Kans., N.Mex., Okla., Tex.

Variety lachnogynum is widely scattered throughout its range, being mostly infrequent to locally common in eastern Colorado, southwestern Kansas, eastern New Mexico, western Oklahoma, and northern Texas.