Perennials 2-7 cm; taprooted, caudex branches usually relatively thick, woody. Stems erect, sparsely to moderately hispidulous and minutely glandular, sometimes merely glandular. Leaves mostly basal and proximal cauline (persistent); basal blades spatulate (often folding), 12-40 × 2-4 mm, margins pinnatifid (lobes linear), faces glabrate or sometimes sparsely hirsute, usually minutely glandular; cauline mostly linear, reduced and bractlike, margins entire, usually coarsely ciliate. Heads (discoid) 1. Involucres 5-6.5 × 7-12 mm. Phyllaries in 3-5 series, hirsuto-villous, minutely glandular. Ray (pistillate) florets 0. Disc corollas 3.8-4.5 mm. Cypselae ca. 2.2 mm, 2-nerved, faces sparsely strigose; pappi: outer of setae, inner of 20-30 bristles.

Flowering Jun-Jul. Rocky slopes, boulder fields, ridge tops, alpine meadows, openings in subalpine fir; of conservation concern; 3000-3800 m; Utah.