Plants 2.5–4 dm wide; leaf blades spatulate, oblong, or obovate to oval, 0.5–2 cm long, tomentose to floccose, the margins rarely brownish; scapes erect, (4) 5–20 cm long, tomentose; inflorescences capitate, 1.5–3.5 cm wide, the branches absent; involucres 3–15 per cluster, 4–5 mm long; flowers 4–5 mm long, the perianth white to rose or purple. 2n = 40.

Flowering Apr-Aug. Sandy to gravelly flats, washes, slopes, and ridges, mixed grassland, saltbush, and sagebrush communities, pinyon and/or juniper and montane conifer woodlands; 700–3100 m.