Stems erect, 5-29 cm. Leaf blades lance-linear, 20-60 × 2-12 mm. Phyllaries 8-11, subequal. Ray corollas 1.5-2.5+ mm. Cypselae: rays 4 mm (with awns 2-3 mm), subterete, obscurely 3-angled, each sulcate on angles and on abaxial face; discs 4-angled, innermost ± compressed, not winged. 2n = 22. Flowering late summer-early fall. Open places, scrub-lands, pinyon-juniper woodlands; 1400-2400 m; Ariz., Calif., N.Mex., Tex.; Mexico (Baja California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Sonora).

Plant: Slender annual forb <20 cm; stems spreading or erect, simple to much-branched, strigose Leaves: simple, opposite, lanceolate or lance-linear, sessile or short-petioled, 2-5 cm, acute, scabrous INFLORESCENCE: primary inflorescence a head, each resembling a flower; heads radiate, generally in cymes; peduncle 0-30 mm; phyllaries 5-11, prominently veined, acute, ± glabrous; receptacle conic, chaffy; chaff scales lanceolate, ± awn-tipped; awn-tips > disk flowers Flowers: Ray flowers 1 per phyllary; corollas yellow, drying cream; ligules thick, 2-3 mm, ± leathery, generally 2-lobed, persistent on fruit; Disk flowers: many; corollas 1-2 mm, cylindric, yellow, drying cream; lobes very small; style tips triangular Fruit: Fruit: achenes, glabrous; ray achenes 3-4 mm, straw-colored, pappus awns 3, < or = 1 mm, stout; disk achenes 2.5-3.5 mm, brown, ± 4-angled, warty, pappus 0 Misc: Dry slopes; 1800 m.; Aug-Sep