Plants (5-)10-30(-45+) cm. Stems decumbent, seldom distally branched. Cauline leaves: blades broadly ovate or elliptic to suborbiculate, 7-20 cm, bases broadly cuneate to truncate or cordate, faces silky-villous to strigillose, glabrescent. Heads in axils of (and overtopped by) leaves. Involucres narrowly campanulate, 12-20(-25) mm diam. Outer phyllaries broadly linear to oblong or obovate, 12-35 mm (equaling or surpassing ray corollas). Ray florets 5-8(-9), laminae 8-18 mm. Cypselae 9-10 mm, glabrous; pappi coroniform (lacerate, projected into scales on angles), 1-1.5 mm. 2n = 38.

Flowering May-Jul(-Aug). Grassy slopes, openings in pine forests; (900-)1300-1900 m; Calif.; Mexico (Baja California).