Plants 3–10 dm tall; aerial flowering stems not fistulose, (1.5) 2–4 dm long, glabrous; leaves basal, the blades 1–5 cm long, 0.5–2 cm wide, tomentose abaxially, thinly floccose or glabrous adaxially, the margins plane; inflorescences cymose, 20–50 cm long, the branches glabrous; involucres 2–5 per cluster, 3–5 mm long, glabrous or sparsely pubescent; flowers 2–3 mm long, the perianth white, rarely yellow, glabrous. 2n = 40.

Flowering Jun-Sep. Sandy to gravelly flats, slopes, banks, and washes, mixed grassland and chaparral communities, oak and conifer woodlands; 10–2100 (2400) m; Coast Ranges and interior valleys from southern Washington (Lewis and Yakima cos.) south through Oregon (Benton, Clackamas, Coos, Crook, Curry, Douglas, Jackson, Jefferson, Josephine, Klamath, Lane, Linn, Marion, Multnomah and Yamhill cos.) to California (Alameda, Amador, Colusa, Del Norte, El Dorado, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Madera, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Tehama, Trinity, Tulare and Tuolumne cos.).