Plants 30-70 cm. Leaves: proximal blades 5-9 cm, margins dentate to lobed, faces densely lanate to woolly; cauline leaves (on proximal ¹/2 of stems) lanceolate. Heads 1(-2). Involucres obconic to hemispheric, 10-20 mm diam. Phyllaries obovate to oblong-lanceolate, 10-12 mm, apices acuminate. Ray florets 18-32; laminae usually yellow, rarely red-tinged, 12-18 mm. Disc corollas yellow. Cypselae 6-8 mm; pappus scales subequal, 1-2 mm. 2n = 38.

Flowering late spring-summer. Rocky slopes, talus, and flats, desert shrublands and conifer woodlands, on volcanic or metamorphic substrates; of conservation concern; 1700-3000 m; Calif., Nev.

Subspecies inyoensis grows in the desert mountains of Inyo County and on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada of Mono County, California, and in Nye County, Nevada.