Plants perennial. Stems arising from branched caudices, ascending to erect, few branched, elongate, glabrous. Leaves: petiole 1-3 cm; blade elliptic to obovate, 1.5-3.5 × 0.3-1.5 cm, margins entire to ± repand and undulate, surfaces glabrous. Inflorescences: peduncle longer than subtending petiole; bracts ovate to orbiculate, 7-15 × 6-15 mm, scarious, glandular-puberulent; flowers 15-20. Perianth: tube white to greenish, 10-15 mm, limb white, 5-7 mm diam. Fruits narrowly fusiform, 7-10 × 3-4 mm, scarious; wings absent.

Flowering spring-summer. Clay soils, desert scrub to pinyon-juniper woodlands; 1300-1900 m; Colo., Utah.