Subshrubs, 1.5-4 × 1-5 dm, mostly densely tomentose. Leaf blades elliptic, 1.5-3 × 0.5-1 cm, margins usually plane. Inflorescences virgate or cymose; branches stout. Involucres 3-4 mm. Flowers 3-4 mm; perianth white to pink or rose. Achenes 2.5-3 mm.

Flowering Jul-Oct. Gravelly to rocky flats and slopes, mixed grassland and chaparral communities, oak and conifer woodlands; 40-800 m; Calif.

Variety trachygonum is the common expression of the species in the Coast Ranges of California (Alameda, Butte, Lake, Merced, Monterey, San Benito, Santa Clara, Shasta, Solano, Stanislaus, Tehama, and Yolo counties). It is found also in scattered locations along the foothills of the Sierra Nevada (mainly Kern, Merced, Nevada, Stanislaus, and Tuolumne counties). The distinction between var. trachygonum and var. subscaposum is imprecise. The difficulty arises in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, where var. trachygonum is reduced in stature and resembles the larger, mid-elevation expressions of var. subscaposum. The problem is less pronounced in the Coast Ranges, but there one is uncertain whether the high-elevation plants are small forms of var. trachygonum or disjunct populations of var. subscaposum.