Plants 10-15(-43) cm. Stems slender. Leaves: basal blades spatulate-lanceolate, 50-200 × 10-20 mm. Involucres campanulate or turbinate, 10-20 × 15-20(-30) mm. Phyllaries (loose, scarcely overlapping) lanceolate, apices acute to acuminate, mucro erect. 2n = 12.

Flowering Jun-Sep. Pine forest, sagebrush scrub, dry slopes, openings in pine and mixed hardwoods forest, lava fields; 900-2800 m; Calif., Idaho, Nev., Oreg., Wash.

Variety cusickii is recognized by its generally smaller size, and campanulate to turbinate involucres with loose, lanceolate phyllaries.