Stems 20-80 cm, mostly unbranched, glabrous. Leaves bicolor (white and green); blades lanceolate to ovate, 5-7 × 0.5-1 cm, irregularly pinnatifid; abaxial faces tomentose (abaxial) or glabrate (adaxial). Involucres campanulate, 2-3 × 2-3 mm. Heads in paniculiform or racemiform arrays 10-15 × 2-6 cm. Florets: pistillate ca. 10; bisexual 3-8; corollas 2 mm.

Flowering mid-late summer. Rocky loam soils; 100-300 m; Ariz., N.Mex., Tex.; Mexico.