Basal leaf blades straight or re-curved, 0.3-1.5 cm, rigid. Sepals 5-8(-9) mm. 2n = 44. Flowering spring-summer. Plains and exposed slopes and ridges; 1200-2900 m; Colo., Kans., Mont., Nebr., Nev., N.Mex., Okla., S.Dak., Utah, Wyo. We include the densely pulvinate plants often known as var. desertorum within var. hookeri. R. L. Hartman (1971) analyzed leaf blade length and sepal length, the characters used by B. Maguire (1951) in recognizing three varieties of Eremogone hookeri, and found that variation is continuous between var. hookeri and var. desertorum.