Leaves 6-20 cm, faces glabrous. Involucres 7-13 mm after flowering. Phyllaries not reflexed in fruit, margins often red distally, glabrous or minutely puberulent apically. Florets 10-18 mm, much surpassing phyllaries at flowering, glabrous. Cypselae straight or slightly curved on one side, 3-4 mm, obtusely 3-angled at 1 adaxial and 2 lateral nerves. 2n = 18.

Flowering Jun-Aug. Wet meadows and sphagnum bogs, coniferous upper montane forests and mixed subalpine woodlands; 1800-3000 m; Calif.

A vestigial coroniform pappus found in some individuals is too minor a feature to merit varietal designation.