Description by James Reveal and Donald Mansfield in “Two new varieties of Eriogonum ovalifolium from the Intermountain West”. Plants 0.5–5 (–7) dm wide; leaf blades broadly ovate to round, 0.5–1.2 cm long, densely greenish white-tomentose, the margins occasionally brownish; scapes decumbent to prostrate, 0.3–5 cm long, mostly tomentose; inflorescences capitate, 1–2.5 cm wide, the branches absent; involucres 4–8 per cluster, 3–4.5 mm long; flowers 4–5 mm long, the perianth white to rose or red. Flowering Jun-Sep. Sandy to gravelly often worn volcanic slopes and ridges in mixed grassland and sagebrush communities; 2700–3000 m; endemic to Steens Mountain, Harney Co., Oregon. 

All the pictures of Eriogonum ovalifolium var. rubidum have been taken on the Steen Mountains on July 2nd 2017. Altitude: 2977 meters.