Plants herbs, erect to spreading, 1–4 (5) dm tall, glabrous, grayish; aerial flowering stems erect, 0.5–1 dm long, glabrous; leaves basal, the petioles 0.5–3 cm long, tomentose, the blades suborbiculate, 0.5–2 cm long and wide, densely white-tomentose abaxially, mostly tomentose and grayish to greenish adaxially; inflorescences cymose, infrequently distally uniparous due to suppression of secondary branches, open to diffuse, 5–35 (45) cm long, 5–35 (4) cm wide, the branches glabrous, the bracts 0.5–3 mm long, 1–3 mm wide; peduncles absent; involucres somewhat appressed to branches, turbinate, 1–1.5 mm long, 0.5–1 mm wide, glabrous or tomentose, the teeth 5, erect, 0.2–0.3 mm long; flowers 1.5–2 mm long, the perianth white to rose, minutely glandular, rarely glabrous, the tepals monomorphic, oblong to oblong- obovate, somewhat constricted near middle and flaring adaxially, the stamens included, 1–1.5 mm long, the filaments pilose proximally; achenes brown, trigonous, 1–1.5 mm long. Flowering May-Oct. Sandy to gravelly washes, flats, and slopes, mixed grassland, saltbush, greasewood and sagebrush communities, pinyon-juniper, oak, or montane conifer woodlands; (100) 500–2900 m.