Plants 1-6 cm. Leaves 0.5-5 cm, margins conspicuously white-crustose. Heads 1-2 cm diam. Calyculi: margins of bractlets crustose-dentate ± throughout. Involucres 10-14 mm. Florets 9-18; corollas white to cream, aging pink or purple, ligules 4-10 mm, equaling or scarcely exserted beyond involucres. 2n = 18.

Flowering Apr-Jul. Sandy or rocky deserts, alkali flats, arid grasslands, often with Atriplex, sometimes with Larrea; 1000-2000 m; Calif., Idaho, Nev., Utah.

Glyptopleura marginata is found in the Great Basin and Mojave deserts.