Dioecious. Plants 5-12 cm (densely tufted, bases woody; root crowns relatively slender). Stolons none. Basal leaves absent at flowering. Cauline leaves spatulate, 5-12 × 2-4 mm, not flagged (apices emarginate or obtuse, abaxial faces tomentose, adaxial green). Heads borne singly. Involucres: staminate 5-9 mm; pistillate 10-15 mm. Phyllaries (relatively wide) distally white. Corollas: staminate 4-5 mm; pistillate 5-8 mm. Cypselae 1-2 mm, papillate; pappi: staminate 4.5-5.5 mm; pistillate 7-9 mm. 2n = 28.

Flowering early summer. Dry, open coniferous woods or barren slopes on serpentine; 500-1600 m; Calif., Oreg.

Antennaria suffrutescens is characterized by suffrutescent growth form, relatively small, emarginate, adaxially glabrous, coriaceous leaves, and relatively large heads borne singly. It is known only from serpentine soils in open montane pine forests in Curry and Josephine counties, Oregon, and neighboring Del Norte and Humboldt counties, California (R. J. Bayer and G. L. Stebbins 1987). Antennaria suffrutescens may have contributed to the origin of some of the clones of the A. rosea complex (e.g., J. T. Howell 27718, NY).