Shrubs, 60-120 cm. Stems much branched, pubescent, gland-dotted. Leaves alternate; petioles 2-5 mm; blades 3-nerved from bases, oblong to broadly ovate, 6-15 × 5-9 mm, bases narrowly cuneate, margins irregularly dentate, apices acute to obtuse, faces sparsely pubescent, gland-dotted. Heads in (leafy) paniculiform or racemiform arrays. Peduncles 0.5-2.5 mm, glandular-viscid. Involucres cylindric, 6-8 mm. Phyllaries 15-25 in 4-6 series, stramineous, 3-5-striate, unequal, (gland-dotted) margins scarious (apices obtuse to acute); outer ovate, inner lanceolate. Florets 8-14; corollas pale yellow-green, often purple-tinged, 4.8-5.7 mm. Cypselae 2.5-3 mm, sparsely pubescent or strigose; pappi of 24-28 tawny, barbellate bristles. 2n = 18.

Flowering Aug-Nov. Dry slopes, streambeds (arroyos); 1300-1900 m; N.Mex., Tex.; Mexico.