Plants 130-200 cm. Stems white, leafy, loosely tomentose. Leaves whitish; blades 1-nerved, filiform, 15-45 × 1-2 mm, faces loosely tomentose . Involucres 7.5-10.5 mm . Phyllaries 15-17, apices erect, obtuse, outer abaxial faces densely tomentulose, inner glabrous. Corollas 7-9.5 mm, tubes glabrous or puberulent, lobes 0.6-1 mm, glabrous; style appendages equaling or shorter than stigmatic portions. Cypselae densely hairy; pappi 4.8-7.6 mm. 2n = 18.

Flowering fall. Dry streambeds and arroyos; 1200-2200 m; Ariz., N.Mex.; Mexico (Sonora).