Plants 10-30 cm. Stems pale or reddish, tufted-tomentose, glabrescent. Leaves: basal blades lanceolate, 20-80 × 10-20 mm, margins entire to rigidly dentate; faces tufted-tomentose. Heads 1-5, usually in racemiform arrays, pedunculate, sometimes borne singly, terminal. Involucres 10-13 × 18-20 mm. Phyllaries loosely appressed, unequal.

Flowering Jul-Sep. Dry or moist alkaline meadows, open pine forests; of conservation concern; 1600-2300 m; Calif.

Variety gossypina is known only from the San Bernardino Mountains, southern California. It is recognized by its tufted-tomentose pubescence, long involucres, unequal phyllaries, and geographic isolation.