Plants 40-60 cm. Stems yellowish green, moderately leafy at flowering, tomentum compact. Leaves grayish green; blades 1-nerved, linear, 10-20 × 0.5-1.5 mm, faces tomentulose to densely tomentose. Involucres 11.2-16 mm. Phyllaries 16-25, apices erect, acute to short-acuminate, outer abaxial faces tomentose or glabrous, inner often glabrous. Corollas 9.8-11.8 mm, tubes puberulent or glabrous, lobes 0.7-0.9 mm, villous; style appendages longer than stigmatic portions. Cypselae glabrous or densely hairy; pappi 9.5-12 mm. 2n = 18.

Flowering late summer-fall. Dunes and deep sands, saltbush, ephedra, juniper, and greasewood communities; 1300-1700 m; Ariz., Nev., Utah.