Perennials, 10-40 cm; herbage dull gray, hairs ± spreading. Leaves: petioles not or barely winged; blades suborbiculate to ovate, 2-6 × 2-6 cm. Peduncles 15-45 cm. Involucres 10-20 mm. Phyllaries in 3-5 series, narrowly lanceolate (bases ovate), apices acute. Ray florets ± 21; corollas yellow, laminae 20-40 mm. Cypselae ± 9 × 3.5 mm, silky-hairy; pappi of 2 awns 1-1.5 mm (plus minute scales or teeth). 2n = 32.

Flowering Apr-Aug. Stony hillsides, canyons; 900-2000 m; Ariz., Calif., Idaho, Nev., Utah.

Plants with strongly corrugate leaf margins from Ash Meadows, Nevada, are var. corrugata. Cronquist believed that corrugate-leaved plants from other areas in southern Nevada were a result of drying in press; D. L. Sanders (unpubl.) showed a gradual drop-off in corrugation of living leaves in the region to the east of Ash Meadows.