Perennials or biennials, 5-40 cm; fibrous-rooted (rhizomatous); stolons usually present (leafy, rooting at nodes). Aerial stems simple or branched, thinly and persistently white-tomentose. Leaves: basal persistent in rosettes (blades oblanceolate to spatulate, 2-10 cm, bases narrowly cuneate, petioliform); cauline 2-4(-6), blades linear to oblanceolate, 1-2 cm × 1-2 mm (even-sized), bases subclasping, margins revolute, abaxial faces silvery, tomentose, adaxial faces green, glabrous (shiny). Bracts subtending heads 2-3, 6-10 mm, not surpassing heads, plus some shorter. Heads in hemispheric clusters 10-20 mm diam. (sometimes with axillary clusters). Involucres 4-4.5 mm. Phyllaries tawny or rosy-tinged (shiny), oblong, apices rounded to obtuse. Pistillate florets 40-60. Bisexual florets 3-5. Pappus bristles distinct.

Flowering May-Oct. Grassy open places in wooded areas, roadsides; 100-800 m; introduced; Calif., Oreg.; Pacific Islands (New Zealand); Australia.