Annuals, to 60 cm. Stems erect, branched distally, glabrous or slightly hairy. Leaves linear or subulate, 40-150 × 2-3+ mm, margins entire, faces glabrous. Involucres hemispheric, 5-10 mm. Phyllaries 10-14, ± lanceolate (distinct tips ± deltate), glabrous but for apices. Receptacles ± conic, papillate, glabrous or sparsely hairy. Ray florets 7-15; (corollas yellow) laminae oblong, 4-14 mm. Anther appendages deltate or broadly ovate. Cypselae gray, clavate or obovoid, 2-3.5 mm, margins not ciliate, faces glabrous, or hairy and papillate (papillae rusty or yellowish, wartlike); pappi 0.

Historically, aboriginal Californians used fruits and leaves of Lasthenia glabrata for food. The subspecies are allopatric and almost identical except for their cypselae.