Plants 20-120 cm. Stems green when young, fastigiately branched, puberulent, gland-dotted (in pits), resinous. Leaves ascending to spreading; blades linear to narrowly obovate (terete to adaxially sulcate), (0.5-)10-15 × 0.5-1 mm, midnerves not evident, apices acute, faces puberulent, regularly gland-dotted (in circular, deep pits), resinous; axillary leaf fascicles present proximally, shorter than subtending leaves. Heads in rounded, cymiform arrays (2-9 cm wide). Peduncles 5-15 mm (bracts 0-2). Involucres narrowly campanulate, 4-5 × 3-4 mm. Phyllaries 10-14 in 3-4 series, tan, sometimes greenish subapically, ovate to oblong, 2.5-5 × 0.6-1.5 mm, unequal, mostly chartaceous, midnerves evident, subapically expanded, (margins scarious or narrowly membranous, entire, ciliolate) apices erect, acute to obtuse, abaxial faces usually glabrous, sometimes (outer) sparsely puberulent and/or resinous. Ray florets (0-)1-3; laminae elliptic, 4-6 × 1-2 mm. Disc florets 4-12; corollas 3-5 mm. Cypselae tan to brown, turbinate, 3-3.5 mm, sericeous; pappi silvery tan, 3-5 mm. 2n = 18. Flowering spring-early summer. Common in rocky desert basins, washes, desert slopes and mesas in creosote-scrub and Joshua tree woodlands; 800-2000 m; Calif., Nev.