Petals white (rarely pink), apex entire or erose. Flowering late spring-summer. Dry hills, pinyon-juniper woods, sagebrush slopes; (1500-)2100-4000 m; Calif., Idaho, Nev., Oreg., Utah. Arenaria kingii subsp. compacta intergrades completely with var. glabrescens in many areas of the Sierra Nevada and does not deserve recognition.

M. F. Baad (1969) noted populations from Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, and Wyoming that he considered intermediate between Eremogone capillaris var. americana and E. kingii var. glabrescens.