Biennials or perennials (rarely flowering first year), 10-45(-60+) cm. Stems arachno-villous (gray to gray-green). Heads in ± crowded, corymbiform arrays. Peduncles (0.5-)1-3(-5+) mm. Involucres 4-5(-7) mm. Rays (2-)3(-5); laminae 3-4(-6) mm, spreading in fruit. Disc florets 5-8(-12). Cypselae usually glabrous, sometimes gland-dotted; pappi of 4-6 lanceolate to lance-subulate scales 2.5-3+ mm. 2n = 32.

Flowering (Mar-)May-Aug(-Oct). Grasslands, limestone soils, gypseous soils, caliche; 300-900 m; Kans., N.Mex., Okla., Tex.

In trans-Pecos Texas, Psilostrophe villosa has been collected within 10 km or so of the Rio Grande; it probably occurs in Mexico. Within 100 km or so of the New Mexico-Texas border, P. villosa and P. tagetina intergrade; B. L. Turner et al. (1988) treated P. villosa as P. tagetina var. cerifera.