Annuals or perennials, 3-6 dm. Phyllaries (8-)12-16, mostly oblong to ovate or obovate. Rays 0. Disc florets 15-30; corollas white or pinkish to purplish, 5-6 mm, lobe lengths 2-3+ times throats; anthers pinkish to purplish. Cypselae 4-5 mm; pappus scales 4-6 mm. 2n = 24. Flowering mostly late summer-fall. Rocky places, often with pinyons and junipers; 900-2300 m; Ariz., Calif., N.Mex., Tex.; Mexico (Baja California, Chihuahua, Sonora).

Plant: Biennial, perennial herb < or = 1.5 m, glabrous to densely glandular or soft-hairy; stems 1-several from base, erect Leaves: basal and cauline, alternate, densely crowded on lower stem, lower petioled; upper reduced, sessile; lobes generally 1 mm wide or less; margins rolled under INFLORESCENCE: primary inflorescence a head, each resembling a flower; heads radiate or discoid, in many-headed, ± flat-topped clusters; peduncle 1-7 cm; bracts scattered, scale-like; involucre hemispheric; phyllaries 3-8 mm, oblanceolate to obovate, obtuse, tips generally purple, glabrous or glandular Flowers: corollas 5-8 mm, outer and inner equal, white or purple-tinged, lobes linear, spreading; anthers ± 3 mm, dark purple Fruit: 3-6 mm, club-shaped, 4-5-angled, ± hairy; pappus scales 3-7 mm, bristle-tipped Misc: Open slopes; ± 1500 m.