Perennials, 10-35 cm (taproots vertical, caudices simple or branched). Stems 1-3, erect (reddish brown), stout, branched proximally, densely setose and stipitate-glandular (setae 1-3 mm). Leaves basal and cauline; petiolate; blades elliptic or oblanceolate, 10-25 × 2-4 cm, margins pinnately lobed or sharply serrate (lobes lanceolate, acuminate), apices acute, faces villous or coarsely setose, stipitate-glandular (cauline 2-3, bases clasping, margins dentate or serrate). Heads 2-20, in loose cymiform arrays. Calyculi of 3-10, narrowly lanceolate to linear, densely setose and stipitate-glandular bractlets 3-5 mm. Involucres cylindro-campanulate, 14-24 × 5-15 mm. Phyllaries 7-12, lanceolate, 14-20 mm (margins yellowish, not scarious), apices long-acuminate, abaxial faces densely and coarsely setose, adaxial glabrous or with fine, appressed, yellowish hairs. Florets 16-20; corollas yellow, 16-21 mm. Cypselae reddish brown, fusiform, 5.5-9 mm, apices narrowed (not beaked), ribs 13; pappi creamy white, 9-13 mm (outer bristles shorter and finer). 2n = 22, 33, 44, 55, 77, 88.

Flowering May-Jul. Coniferous forests, thickets, open woods, valleys and foothills, dry gravelly open areas; 700-2400 m; Calif., Oreg.

Crepis monticola is recognized by the densely stipitate-glandular stems and leaves, and long-acuminate phyllaries.