Plants herbs, erect to spreading or somewhat decumbent, (0.7) 1.5–5 (7) dm tall, lanate to tomentose or floccose, rarely glabrous, greenish to whitish or grayish; aerial flowering stems erect, 0.5–2 dm long, lanate to tomentose or floccose, rarely glabrous; leaves basal and cauline; basal: petiole 1–4 cm long, floccose, not winged, blade oblanceolate to oblong, (0.8) 1–4 (6) cm long, 0.5–2 cm wide, tomentose abaxially, less so to floccose and greenish to grayish adaxially; cauline: petiole 0.3–2 cm long, floccose, blade oblanceolate, 0.5–3 cm long, 0.3–1.5 cm wide, similar to basal blade; inflorescences cymose, occasionally distally uniparous due to suppression of secondary branches, open to somewhat diffuse, 0.5–4 cm long, 0.5–3 cm wide, the branches lanate to tomentose or floccose, rarely glabrous, straight or nearly so, not inwardly curved distally, the bracts 0.5–3 mm long, 1–3 mm wide; peduncles absent; involucres somewhat appressed to branches, turbinate, (1.8) 2–3 mm long, 1.5–2 mm wide, floccose or glabrous, the teeth 5, erect, 0.3–0.6 mm long; flowers 1.5–3 mm long, the perianth white to pink or yellow, glabrous, the tepals monomorphic, lanceolate to oblong, the stamens mostly included, 1–1.5 mm long, the filaments pilose proximally; achenes brown, trigonous, 1–2 mm long. 2n = 22.

Flowering year-round. Sandy and gravelly flats and slopes, grassland and chaparral communities, oak and pine woodlands; 0–1600 m; throughout much of California (Alameda, Colusa, Contra Costa, Fresno, Imperial, Kern, Los Angeles, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Monterey, Napa, Orange, Placer, Plumas, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Benito, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, Stanislaus, Tulare and Ventura cos.) to northern Baja California and (perhaps) Sonora, Mexico.

Involucres somewhat appressed to branches, turbinate, (1.8) 2–3 mm long, 1.5–2 mm wide, floccose or glabrous, the teeth 5, erect, 0.3–0.6 mm long.