Cypselae truncate-fusiform, 3-6.5 mm (tapered to basal callosities, widest beyond middles, filled by embryos), ribs constricted at apices; pappi usually of deltate or ovate, arcuate, usually plane or barely involute scales 0.5-1 mm, shorter than cypselae, sometimes nearly obsolete. 2n = 18.

Flowering Mar--Jun. Sandy or clay soils, flats and hillsides, sometimes on serpentine slopes, grasslands and open oak woodlands; 0-500 m; Calif.

Subspecies tenella intergrades completely with subsp. douglasii in west-central California. It occurs near the immediate coast; morphologic variation and chloroplast DNA suggest a history of hybridization with M. bigelovii.