Plants (0.5-)1-5(-10) dm. Aerial flowering stems glabrous. Inflorescence branches glabrous. Flowers 1-2 mm. Achenes 1.4-1.8 mm.

Flowering May-Oct. Sandy flats and slopes, sagebrush communities, pinyon-juniper and montane conifer woodlands; 1700-3200 m; Calif., Nev., Utah.

Variety esmeraldense is locally common throughout most of its range. Its greatest concentration is along the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada in Mono and Inyo counties, California, and adjacent desert ranges eastward into western Esmeralda and Mineral counties, Nevada. A second area of concentration is the high mesa region of southern Nye County, Nevada, north and east of Beatty. An isolated population occurs in northeastern Washoe and adjacent northwestern Humboldt counties in northwestern Nevada. The isolated population in the Tushar Mountains of Sevier County, Utah, recently named var. tayei, is likely a recent introduction, probably via shipments of livestock.