Herbs, compactly matted, 0.1-0.3(-0.6) × 0.5-3 dm, mostly thinly tomentose. Leaves: blade elliptic, 0.1-0.25 × 0.06-0.12 cm. Inflorescences capitate or nearly so; branches absent or slender. Involucres (0.8-)1-1.7(-2) mm. Flowers (1.5-)2-2.5 mm; perianth white to pink. Achenes 1.5-2 mm.

Flowering Jul-Aug. Gravelly to rocky granitic talus slopes; 3500-3600 m; Calif.

Variety olanchense is known only from Olancha Peak, Tulare County. It is worthy of cultivation as a rock-garden plant. In Baja California, var. oresbium Reveal is similar; that taxon is restricted to the Sierra Juárez and Sierra San Pedro Martír, but already has made its appearance as a cultivated rock-garden plant.