Plants (0.3-)0.5-1.5 × (0.1-)0.3-1.5 dm. Leaves: petiole (3-)10-20 mm; proximal blades 2-5(-6) × 2-5(-7) mm, acerose, distal blades 3-5 × 0.5-1.5 mm, awn-tipped. Involucral bracts 2-5 mm; awns 1-3 mm. Flowers 0.8-1 mm. Achenes 1-1.2 mm.

Flowering Apr-Aug. Dry lake-beds, flats and sinks, and meadows in mixed grassland, saltbush, creosote bush, and sagebrush communities; 70-2200 m; Calif., Nev.

Goodmania luteola occurs in the southern San Joaquin Valley and on the northwestern edge of the Mojave Desert in California northward to Mono County. It also occurs in Alkali Valley, Mineral County, Nevada. It rapidly is becoming rare and frequently locally extirpated.