Plants shrubs, rounded to erect, 6–15 dm tall, (8) 10–25 dm across; aerial flowering stems thinly tomentose or glabrous; leaf blades linear-oblanceolate to oblanceolate, 0.6–1.2 cm long, 0.1–0.4 cm wide, densely white- tomentose abaxially, less so to green and floccose adaxially, the margins plane usually tightly revolute; inflorescences open and mostly cymose, the branches thinly tomentose or glabrous; involucres turbinate, 3–4 mm long, (1.5) 2–2.5 mm wide, pubescent; perianth pubescent at least proximally. 2n = 80.

Flowering year-round. Sandy to gravelly flats and slopes, mixed grassland and chaparral communities, oak and conifer woodlands; 60–1300 (1600) m; Coast Ranges of California (Kern, Los Angeles, Monterey, Orange, Riverside, San Benito, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Stanislaus, and Ventura cos.) south throughout much of Baja California, Mexico. Widely cultivated along highways outside its normal range in California; recently introduced into central Arizona.