Plants erect to spreading, 0.4–4 dm tall, 0.3–4.5 dm across; leaves basal, the leaf blades linear to linear- oblanceolate, 1–4.5 cm long, 0.1–0.7 cm wide, densely hirsute and sparsely glandular; aerial flowering stems sparsely to densely glandular, grayish; inflorescences cymose, open to diffuse, mostly 5–40 cm long, essentially glabrous, grayish; bracts 1–18 mm long, 0.5–4 mm wide, linear to subulate or triangular, sometimes foliaceous, (2) 3 (4) at first node, otherwise 2 or 3 and free or basally connate, hirsute and glandular, with awns 0.2–0.5 mm long, these often lacking at upper nodes; peduncles erect or deflexed, slender, 0.5–1.5 cm long, occasionally lacking at uppermost nodes, glabrous; involucres narrowly turbinate, 1– 2 mm long, typically glabrous abaxially, the teeth (3) 4 mm long, the awns 0.5–3 mm long, grayish; flowers 2– 6, the perianth white to pink, 1–2 mm long, glabrous to strigose and sparsely glandular abaxially, the tepals essentially entire, dimorphic with outer 3 elliptic to oval or ovate and pubescent abaxially, those of inner 3 elliptic oblong to narrowly ovate and glabrous or sometimes strigose abaxially at base, the filaments 0.5–1.5 mm long, glabrous, the anthers oval, cream to red; achenes globose-lenticular, yellow-brown to maroon, 2–2.5 mm long, glabrous; 2n = 40.