Plants subshrubs, 1.5–4 dm tall, 1–5 dm across; aerial flowering stems mostly densely tomentose; leaves with petiole bases not forming distinct ring around stem, the blades elliptic, 1.5–3 cm long, 0.5–1 cm wide, the margins usually plane; inflorescences virgate or cymose, the branches dichotomous, usually stout; involucres 3–4 mm long; flowers 3–4 mm long, the perianth white to pink or rose; achenes 2.5–3 mm long.

Flowering Jul-Oct. Gravelly to rocky flats and slopes, mixed grassland and chaparral communities, oak and conifer woodlands; 40–800 m; Coast Ranges of California (Alameda, Butte, Lake, Merced, Monterey, Santa Clara, San Benito, Shasta, Solano, Stanislaus, Tehama, and Yolo cos.) and along the foothills of the Sierra Nevada (Kern, Nevada, Stanislaus, and Tuolumne cos.).