Plants loose mats, 1-4 dm wide. Leaf blades elliptic to ovate, 1-4 cm, densely tomentose abaxially, floccose to subglabrous or glabrous adaxially. Inflorescences (2-)5-20 cm; branches glabrous. Involucres 4-5 × 1.5-3 mm, glabrous or nearly so. Flowers 3-6 mm; perianth white.

Flowering May-Aug. Sandy to gravelly flats and slopes, mixed grassland and sagebrush communities, conifer woodlands; 100-1400(-1800) m; Idaho, Oreg., Wash.

Variety strictum is infrequent and widely scattered throughout its range in west-central Idaho (Adams, Nez Perce, and Washington counties), northeastern Oregon (Douglas, Morrow, Umatilla, Union, and Wallowa counties), and southeastern Washington (Benton, Columbia, Douglas, Grant, Kittitas, and Yakima counties). Its greatest concentration is in the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon and extreme southeastern Washington.