Plants shrubs, erect or slightly spreading, not scapose, 2–5 dm tall, 2–8 dm across, densely tomentose, tannish; stems mostly erect, without persistent leaf bases, up to 1⁄2 height or more of plant, the caudex stems absent, the aerial flowering stems erect, stout, solid, not fistulose, 2–4 dm long, tomentose; leaves 1 per node and sheathing up stems or fasciculate at tips of basal branches, the petioles 0.1–0.5 (1) cm long, tomentose, the blades oblanceolate to narrowly oblong, (1.5) 2–4 (5) cm long, 1–2.5 (3) cm wide, densely white-tomentose abaxially, floccose adaxially, the margins plane; inflorescences cymose, 15–30 (40) cm long, 15–40 cm wide, the branches dichotomous, tomentose, the bracts 3, semi-foliaceous, narrowly oblanceolate, 3–7 mm long, 1–3 mm wide; peduncles absent or erect, slender, (1) 3–10 cm long, tomentose; involucres 1 per node, turbinate- campanulate, 3.5–5 mm long, 2.5–4 mm wide, tomentose, the teeth 5–8, erect, 0.4–0.8 mm long; flowers 3–6 (7) mm long, the perianth white, densely villous abaxially, the hypanthium 1⁄3 length of perianth, the tepals monomorphic, narrowly oblong, the stamens exserted, 3–7 mm long, the filaments pilose proximally; achenes brown, 3–5 mm long, villous.

Flowering Jul-Sep. Sandy to gravelly flats and slopes, sagebrush communities, oak and montane conifer woodlands; 200–800 m; in the O’Brien-Waldo area of Josephine Co., Oregon, and more common in the Siskiyou Mountains of Del Norte Co., California, as far south as Gasquet.

Involucres 1 per node, turbinate- campanulate, 3.5–5 mm long, 2.5–4 mm wide, tomentose, the teeth 5–8, erect, 0.4–0.8 mm long.