Stems glaucous. Basal leaves gray-green, glaucous, often purple-tinged, especially abaxially, often adaxially mottled, 1-12 × 0.5-6 cm. Heads 1.5-3.5 cm diam. Involucres 6-10 mm. Florets: corollas 8-20 mm, inner with bases yellow or purple, much shorter than outer. Cypselae 4-4.5 mm. 2n = 18.

Flowering Feb-May. Dry desert slopes, valleys, and washes; 0-1400 m; Ariz., Calif., Nev., Utah; Mexico (Baja California).

Atrichoseris platyphylla grows in the Mojave and Sonoran deserts.