Stems erect to ascending or decumbent; herbage hirtellous or villoso-pilose or densely gray-tomentose (hairs flattened, vitreous, long) to glabrate, sometimes stipitate-glandular. Leaf blades linear to oblanceolate or spatulate-oblong, 10-40 × 2-6(-9) mm, not thick-fleshy, margins of at least the proximal pinnately lobed or shallowly toothed. Heads in corymbiform arrays. Corollas 5-7 mm. Cypselae 2.3-3.6 mm. 2n = 24.

Flowering (Apr-)Jul-Dec. Coastal bluffs and dunes, sandy flats, salt marsh borders, occasionally on dry slopes; of conservation concern; 5-400 m; Calif.; Mexico (Baja California).

In San Diego and Riverside counties, plants of var. vernonioides produce small leaves that are often nearly glabrous, perhaps reflecting the influence of genes from var. menziesii.