Plants 30-60 cm. Leaves widely spaced, green; blades 1-nerved, linear to narrowly oblanceolate, 30-50(-80) × 1-2(-3) mm, faces glabrous, viscidulous; distalmost overtopping arrays. Heads usually 4-8 in lax (much branched), racemiform to cymiform-paniculiform arrays. Involucres 10-12 mm. Phyllaries (11-)13-17(-19), chartaceous, outer herbaceous-tipped, apices erect, acuminate (glabrous, viscidulous). Florets (4-)5-6; corollas pale yellow, 7.5-10 mm, tubes distally puberulent, throats gradually dilated, lobes 1-1.5 mm. 2n = 18.

Flowering late summer-fall. Barren, rocky soils; 1400-1800 m; Idaho.

Variety salmonensis grows along the Middle Fork of the Salmon River and its tributaries.