Plants herbs, erect to slightly spreading, 0.5–3 (5) dm tall, thinly tomentose to floccose or glabrous, grayish or reddish gray; aerial flowering stems erect, 0.5–1 dm long, thinly tomentose to floccose, infrequently glabrous, straight or nearly so, infrequently inwardly curved distally; leaves basal, the petioles 1–4 cm long, mostly floccose, the blades round-ovate to rounded, 0.5–2 (2.5) cm long, 0.5–2 cm wide, white-tomentose abaxially, less so to nearly glabrous and grayish or greenish adaxially; inflorescences cymose, often distally uniparous due to suppression of secondary branches, open to somewhat diffuse, 5–25 cm long and wide, the branches floccose or glabrous, the bracts 1–3 mm long, 1–2 mm wide; peduncles absent; involucres appressed to branches, narrowly cylindric, 2–3.5 (4) mm long, 1–2 mm wide, glabrous or infrequently floccose, the teeth 5, erect, 0.3–0.6 mm long; flowers 2–2.5 mm long, the perianth white to rose or pale yellow, glabrous, the tepals slightly dimorphic, those of outer whorl broadly spatulate to obovate, those of inner whorl oblanceolate, the stamens included, 1–1.5 mm long, the filaments pilose proximally or glabrous; achenes brown, trigonous, 2– 2.5 mm long. 2n = 24.

Flowers 2–2.5 mm long, the perianth white to rose or pale yellow, glabrous, the tepals slightly dimorphic, those of outer whorl broadly spatulate to obovate, those of inner whorl oblanceolate, the stamens included, 1–1.5 mm long, the filaments pilose proximally or glabrous.

Flowering May-Sep. Sandy to gravelly flats and slopes, mixed grassland, saltbush, and sagebrush communities, oak, juniper, and montane conifer woodlands; 50–2400 m.

Involucres appressed to branches, narrowly cylindric, 2–3.5 (4) mm long, 1–2 mm wide, glabrous or infrequently floccose, the teeth 5, erect, 0.3–0.6 mm long.