Plant: annual; stem ascending to erect, 2-23 cm Leaves: 0.5-4 cm, ± linear, strigose to sharp-bristled; lower opposite, fused at base; upper alternate INFLORESCENCE: cymes; pedicels in fruit ascending or reflexed, ± 0.5 mm Flowers: sepals in fruit ± equal, > nutlets, with appressed, short, and several spreading, long, stiff, hairs (including bristles), tips with straight bristles; corolla 0.8-3 mm, white; style attached to receptacle, unbranched, generally persistent, stigma 1, head-like Fruit: Fruit: nutlets 1.5-4 mm, ± obovate to ± round; margins ± entire, membranous-winged, wide on 3 nutlets, narrow on 1, marginal prickles hooked at tip, not barbed Misc: Clearings in sagebrush scrub, creosote-bush scrub, pinyon/juniper woodland, grassland; 150-2300 m.; Apr-May References: J.C. Hickman. The Jepson Manual. Kearney & Peebles. Arizona Flora. W.B. McDougal. Seed plants of Northern Arizona. ASU specimens.