Plants 5–13 (17) dm tall; aerial flowering stems strigose; leaves basal, infrequently cauline, the basal leaves on strigose to woolly or glabrous, 2–6 cm long, the blades lanceolate to oblanceolate, (3) 5–15 cm long, 0.3–2 cm wide, strigose or glabrous except for margins and midveins, the cauline leaf blades 1–6 cm long; inflorescences 2–10 dm long, the branches thinly strigose, infrequently glabrous at maturity; peduncles strigose or nearly so; involucres strigose or rarely glabrous; perianth yellow to yellowish-green or brownish red; achenes 5–8 mm long, 3–6 mm wide. 2n = 40.

Flowering Jun-Oct. Sandy to gravelly flats and slopes, mixed grassland, saltbush, and sagebrush communities, oak, pinyon and/or juniper, and montane conifer woodlands; (500) 1300–3100 (4000) m.