Plants herbs, matted, dioecious, (0.5) 1–2 dm tall, 3–8 dm across, sparsely tomentose; stems with caudex spreading, the aerial flowering stems erect, slender, solid, not fistulose, arising at nodes of caudex branches and at distal nodes of short, nonflowering aerial branches, (0.5) 1–2 dm long, sparsely tomentose; leaves in loose basal rosettes, the petioles 0.7–3 cm long, lanate to tomentose, the blades elliptic to ovate, (0.5) 1–2 cm long, 0.5–1.5 cm wide, densely grayish-lanate on both surfaces, the margins entire, plane; inflorescences of staminate plants capitate, rarely umbellate, 1–2 cm long and wide, those of pistillate plants umbellate, rarely capitate, 1–4 cm long and wide, the branches tomentose to floccose, the bracts 4–6, semi-foliaceous to foliaceous, 3–5 mm long, 1–3 mm wide; involucres 1 per node or 2–3 per cluster, turbinate to turbinate- campanulate, tomentose, the staminate plants 2.5–3 mm long, 3–4 mm wide, teeth 5–6, erect, 1.5–2 mm long, the pistillate plants 3–4 mm long and wide, teeth 4–5, erect, 2.5–3.5 mm long; flowers with a yellow to brownish-yellow, glabrous perianth with monomorphic, oblanceolate to obovate tepals, the staminate flowers 2–3 mm long including a 0.5–0.7 mm long stipelike base, the pistillate flowers (3.5) 5–8 mm long including a 0.5–0.8 mm long stipelike base, the stamens exserted, 1–2 mm long, the filaments pilose proximally; achenes light brown to brown, 3–4 mm long, glabrous except for sparsely pubescent beak.

Flowers with a yellow to brownish-yellow, glabrous perianth with monomorphic, oblanceolate to obovate tepals, the staminate flowers 2–3 mm long including a 0.5–0.7 mm long stipelike base.