Plants herbs, erect, 1–8 dm tall, thinly tomentose to floccose, whitish to grayish or brownish to reddish-brown; aerial flowering stems erect, 0.5–3 dm long, thinly tomentose to floccose; leaves basal and cauline; basal: petiole 1–4 cm long, thinly tomentose to floccose, blade oblanceolate to narrowly oblong, 1–3 (5) cm long, (0.3) 0.5–1 (2) cm wide, tomentose on both surfaces, sometimes merely floccose and grayish or brownish to reddish-brown adaxially; cauline: petiole 0.3–1.5 (2) cm long, mostly floccose, blade elliptic, 0.5–3 cm long, 0.3–1 cm wide, mostly tomentose and whitish to grayish; inflorescences cymose, often distally uniparous due to suppression of secondary branches, open, 10–70 cm long, 10–45 cm wide, the branches straight or nearly so, infrequently inwardly curved distally, thinly tomentose to floccose, the bracts 1–3 mm long and wide; peduncles absent; involucres appressed to branches, cylindric, (3.5) 4–5 mm long, 2–3 mm wide, the teeth 5, erect, 0.2–0.4 mm long; flowers 1.5–2 (2.5) mm long, the perianth white to pink or red, occasionally yellow, glabrous, the tepals monomorphic, narrowly obovate to oblong, the stamens included, 1–1.5 mm long, the filaments pilose proximally; achenes brown, trigonous, 1.8–2 (2.2) mm long. 2n = 18.

Flowers 1.5–2 (2.5) mm long.

Flowering May-Nov. Sandy and gravelly flats and slopes, mixed grassland, chaparral, and sagebrush communities, oak and pine woodlands; 0–2200 m; southwestern Oregon (Jackson and Josephine cos.) south through much of California (Alameda, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Contra Costa, Del Norte, El Dorado, Fresno, Humboldt, Kern, Lake, Los Angeles, Madera, Mariposa, Mendocino, Merced, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Placer, San Bernardino, San Benito, San Diego, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Tulare, Tuolumne, Trinity, Ventura and Yolo cos.) to northern Baja California Norte, Mexico.