Plants 3-6 dm. Aerial flowering stems not fistulose, 2-3 dm, glabrous. Leaves sheathing; blade 1.5-3.5 × 1-2 cm, lanate abaxially, tomentose adaxially, margins plane. Inflorescences cymose, 15-30 × 10-20 cm; branches glabrous. Involucres 5-10 per cluster, (4-)5-6 mm, glabrous. Flowers 3-4 mm; perianth white, pubescent. Flowering May-Oct. Sandy flats and slopes, mixed grassland, manzanita, and buckbrush communities, oak and montane conifer woodlands; 400-700 m; Calif. Variety murinum is a rare and localized taxon in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in Tulare County.