Plants 0.5-3(-5) dm. Flowering stems not fistulose. Inflorescences flat-topped, spreading. Peduncles absent or deflexed, 0.1-0.3 cm. Involucres turbinate, 1.5-2 mm. Flowers 1-1.5(-2) mm; tepals oblong. 2n = 40.

Flowering Jun-Oct. Sandy to gravelly washes, flats, and slopes, saltbush, greasewood, and sagebrush communities, pinyon-juniper woodlands; 1000-2200 m; Calif., Nev.

Variety nevadense is the common expression of the species in the Great Basin. It occurs from northeastern Inyo and southern Mono counties, California, eastward into central Nevada (Churchill, Douglas, Esmeralda, Eureka, Humboldt, Lander, Lincoln, Lyon, Mineral, Nye, Pershing, Washoe, and White Pine counties) north of the Mojave Desert (as defined by presence of creosote bush).