Plants shrubs, erect to spreading, not scapose, (3) 4–10 dm tall, 5–20 dm across, essentially glabrous and bright green; stems spreading, without persistent leaf bases, up to 1⁄3 height of plant, the caudex stems absent, the aerial flowering stems erect to spreading, slender, solid, not fistulose, 0.2–2 dm long, glabrous; leaves cauline on proximal 2⁄3 of stem, 1 per node, the petioles (0.2) 0.3–0.8 (1) cm long, floccose or glabrous, the blades elliptic, 1.5–4 (4.5) cm long, (0.3) 0.6–1 (1.3) cm wide, glabrous and green on both surfaces, the margins plane; inflorescences cymose, open, 15–25 cm long, 13–30 cm wide, the branches often with involucres racemosely arranged at tips of inflorescence branches, glabrous, the bracts 3, scalelike, triangular, 1–2 mm long; peduncles absent; involucres 1 per node, turbinate, 2–2.5 mm long, 1.2–1.8 (2) mm wide, glabrous, the teeth 5, erect, 0.2–0.3 mm long; flowers (2) 2.5–3 mm long, the perianth pale yellow to yellow or whitish, glabrous, the hypanthium 1⁄4 length of perianth, the tepals dimorphic, those of outer whorl obovate, 1– 1.3 mm wide, those of inner whorl oblanceolate, 0.8–1 mm wide, the stamens included to slightly exserted, 2– 2.5 mm long, the filaments pilose proximally; achenes brown, 3–3.5 mm long, glabrous. 2n = 40.

Flowering Jul-Sep. Red, gypsophilous clay flats and outcrops, mixed grassland, saltbush, and blackbrush communities; 1400–1600 m; low, gypsophilous hills west and southwest of Fredonia, Mohave Co., Arizona.