Plants 20-60 cm. Stems glabrous or sparsely tomentulose. Leaves: basal blades lanceolate to elliptic, 100-200 × 8-30 mm, thin and ± membranous when dry, margins entire or sparsely denticulate, faces usually glabrous. Heads sessile or nearly so, crowded, in glomerate-spiciform arrays. Involucres campanulate, 7-9 × 12-16 mm. Phyllaries yellowish green, margins ciliate, apices erect, abruptly narrowed, acute, faces sparsely tomentose at least proximally. Cypsela faces sericeous.

Flowering Jul-Sep. Coniferous forest openings, chaparral, bogs; 200-1000 m; Calif., Oreg.

Variety congesta is recognized by its slender stems, heads in congested glomerate-spiciform arrays, and yellowish green phyllaries.