Plants 10-50 cm; rhizomes stout or caudices branching. Stems 1-6, decumbent to ascending, finely and densely puberulent. Leaves: basal present at flowering; basal and proximal petiolate, blades oblanceolate to narrowly obovate or spatulate, 20-100 × 5-20 mm, basal much smaller than proximal, margins serrate or entire, somewhat 3-nerved, apices obtuse to acute, cuspidate, faces moderately to densely finely puberulent; mid and distal cauline sessile, blades oblanceolate to elliptic to base, 1 prominent nerve, 10-30 × 4-12 mm, greatly reduced distally, attenuate, margins entire or distally serrate, apices acute, faces densely finely puberulent. Heads 30-100, in broadly corymbiform (modified paniculiform) arrays, sometimes somewhat secund. Peduncles 2-7 mm, moderately puberulent; bracteoles 0-2, elliptic, minute. Involucres campanulate, 4-6 mm. Phyllaries in 3-4 series, oblong, strongly unequal, margins ciliate, apices blunt, glabrous. Ray florets (5-)6-10 (fewer than number of disc florets); laminae ca. 3 × 1.3-1.6 mm. Disc florets 8-20; corollas 4-4.5 mm, lobes 0.8-1.1 mm. Cypselae (narrowly obconic) 2-2.8 mm, sparsely strigose; pappi 3.5-4 mm. 2n = 18.

Flowering Aug-Sep. Dry to wet soils, often alkaline meadows and flats, open wooded slopes; 1700-2700 m; Ariz., Colo., Idaho, Mont., Nev., N.Mex., Utah.