Perennials, 2-10 cm; taprooted, caudices branched. Stems erect (scapiform, bracteate), finely strigose, eglandular. Leaves (persistent) mostly basal (leaf bases broadened or not, not thickened and whitish-indurate); blades linear, 4-20 × 0.5-1.5 mm, cauline bractlike or absent, margins entire, faces densely, finely strigose (hairs thin-based), eglandular. Heads 1. Involucres 5-8 × 7-17 mm. Phyllaries in 2-3(-4) series, finely and closely strigose (hairs thin-based), inconspicuously minutely glandular. Ray florets 15-32; corollas white to pinkish, often with an abaxial lilac midstripe, 6-11 mm (tubes and laminae bases glabrous or glabrate), laminae tardily coiling. Disc corollas 4.5-6 mm. Cypselae 2.8-3.2 mm, 2-nerved, margins velutinous-ciliate, faces glabrous; pappi: outer of setae, inner of 30-40 bristles.

Flowering May-Jun. Dry, sandy or rocky soil, dunes, sagebrush, pinyon-juniper; of conservation concern; 1300-2900 m; Calif., Nev., Utah.