Stems, leaves, and involucres glabrous, stipitate-glandular. Leaf margins sparsely piloso-villous to puberulent. 2n = 12.

Flowering Apr-May(-Jun). Sandy or gravelly slopes and flats, in pinyon-juniper, sagebrush, and blackbrush zones; 600-1900 m; Ariz., Nev., Utah.

The geographic distribution of var. imberbis usually follows the canyons of the Colorado River of Utah and adjacent Arizona at least to Toroweap Point; it also occurs in Clark and Nye counties, Nevada, where it intergrades with var. tortifolia (A. Cronquist 1994).