Plants 12-30 cm (sometimes weakly cespitose, caudices multicipital or with relatively short branches; rhizomes fibrous-rooted, thickened, becoming woody). Stems proximally herbaceous or slightly woody, eglandular. Leaves: proximal separated by evident internodes, spatulate, reduced in size distally; mid and distal linear-lanceolate, 15-25(-30) mm, margins green, faces hispidulous. Heads borne singly. Involucres 8-13 mm. Disc florets bisexual, fertile; corollas 7.5-8.5 mm. Cypselae 5-6 mm, faces sessile- to stipitate-glandular.

Flowering Jun-Sep. Dry slopes, grassy ridges, and openings; 1700-2200 m; B.C.; Idaho, Mont., Wash.