Perennials, 30-60 cm. Stems 1-7, sparsely lanate. Leaves mostly cauline; blades green, lanceolate to narrowly oblanceolate, 5-11 cm, margins sinuate to toothed (teeth triangular, obtuse), faces sparsely to moderately glandular-villous; distal cauline leaves ± oblanceolate, gradually reduced. Heads 3-4. Involucres obconic to hemispheric, 10-16 mm diam. Phyllaries 8-10 mm, outer lanceolate, apices acuminate. Ray florets 10-23; corolla tubes hairy, laminae yellow, 10-14 mm. Disc corollas yellow. Cypselae 6-8 mm; pappus scales unequal, shorter 1-2 mm, longer 2-3 mm. 2n = 38.

Flowering late spring-summer. Common after fires, open sites in coniferous forests, mostly coarse-grained volcanic or granitic soils; 1500-2700 m; Calif.

Hulsea brevifolia grows in the Sierra Nevada.