Herbage glabrous, not resinous. Leaf blades narrowly elliptic-oblong to elliptic-obovate, 20-50 mm, margins entire. Involucres (5.5-)6-9.5 × 5-7.5 mm. Phyllary apices yellowish to greenish yellow, not aristate, sparsely or not at all gland-dotted, without resin pockets. Florets 19-25; corollas 5-6.5 mm. Cypsela ribs slightly surpassing apices, forming hornlike extensions. 2n = 12.

Flowering Aug-Oct(-Nov). Rocky or sandy soils, sometimes in clay, usually saline, desert shrub communities, sometimes with scattered junipers; 700-1500 m; Ariz., Colo, N.Mex., Utah.