Plants 10-40(-50) cm. Leaves: proximal blades 1-5 cm, margins dentate to lobed, faces densely lanate to woolly; cauline leaves lanceolate. Heads 1. Involucres obconic, 8-10 mm diam. Phyllaries 7-10 mm, outer narrowly lanceolate, apices acuminate. Ray florets 10-16; laminae orange to reddish orange, 5-7 mm. Disc corollas orange. Cypselae 5-7 mm; pappus scales subequal, 1-2 mm. 2n = 38.

Flowering late spring-summer. Rocky slopes, talus, and flats, montane to subalpine coniferous forests, sometimes chaparral, on granitic and metamorphic substrates; 1200-2800 m; Calif.

Plants on limestone substrates from the northeastern San Bernardino Mountains have broadly spatulate basal leaves with undulate margins. The heads and florets are typical of subsp. parryi. These plants are retained within subsp. parryi; they deserve further study.