Annuals or short-lived perennials, 30-80(-110) cm; taprooted. Stems persistently tomentose, not glandular. Leaf blades mostly linear, 3-6 cm × 1.5-3.5 mm (sometimes smaller distally), bases not clasping, decurrent 5-15 mm, margins flat, faces concolor, loosely tomentose, not glandular. Heads usually in loose, paniculiform arrays. Involucres turbinate-campanulate, 5-6 mm. Phyllaries in (4-)5-6(-7) series, white (opaque, dull to shiny), ovate to ovate-oblong (inner usually with filiform keel and slight apiculum), glabrous. Pistillate florets (39-)44-69. Bisexual florets 5-8(-11). Cypselae ridged, smooth or weakly papillate-roughened. 2n = 14.

Flowering (Apr-)Jun-Oct. Dry, open slopes and ridges, streambeds, road banks and other disturbed sites, sandy flats, dunes, coastal sage scrub, chaparral, yellow pine, foothill pine, blue oak woodland; (1-)50-800(-2000) m; Calif.; Mexico (Baja California).

Pseudognaphalium beneolens differs from P. thermale in its leaves linear throughout, heads usually in elongate, paniculiform arrays, larger heads (greater numbers of phyllaries in greater numbers of series) with phyllaries more opaque and duller, and greater numbers of bisexual florets. The cauline leaves of P. beneolens tend to become curving-coiling. In areas of sympatry, habitats of P. beneolens are characteristically at lower elevations than those of P. thermale.