Plants erect or spreading, 0.5-3 dm. Stems slender, (1.5-)2-6 cm. Leaf blades 1-3 cm. Inflores-cences: bracts 2(-3), subulate, awns 0.5-1.5 mm. Peduncles 0.3-1.5(-2) cm. Involucres: awns 4(-5), ivory colored, 2-3 mm.
Flowering May-Sep. Sandy calcareous slopes, chaparral communities; 1300-2300 m; Calif.
Variety goodmaniana is known only from the northeastern slope of the San Bernardino Mountains in San Bernardino County. The name Oxytheca watsonii was misapplied to this taxon in the pre-1980 California literature.