Leaf blades 9-42 × 2-4 mm. Invo-lucres 8-13 × 5-10+ mm. Disc corollas 6.5-10 mm. Cypselae black, 4-7.5 mm; pappi 5-11 mm. 2n = 16.

Flowering Jun-Oct. On granitic soils, openings in forests; of conservation concern; 1100-2500 m; Calif.

Carlquistia muirii is known only from granitic substrates in the southern Sierra Nevada and Santa Lucia Range (Ventana Double Cone). Major disjunctions among the populations of C. muirii, a self-incompatible tarweed, may be explained by vicariance, ancient dispersal, or both (B. G. Baldwin and D. W. Kyhos 1990).