Subshrubs or shrubs, (1-)1.5-5(-7.5) × 1-12(-18) dm, mostly tomentose. Leaf blade oblanceolate to elliptic, 0.5-1.5 × 0.2-0.5(-0.7) cm, margins usually plane. Inflorescences virgate or cymose; branches slender. Involucres 2-2.5 mm. Flowers 2.5-3.5 mm; perianth white to pink or rose. Achenes 2.5-3 mm. Flowering Jul-Oct. Gravelly to rocky (often cal-careous) slopes, mixed grassland, saltbush, blackbrush, creosote bush, and mesquite communities, oak or pinyon and/or juniper woodlands; (300-)900-2200 m; Ariz., Calif., Nev., N.Mex., Tex., Utah; Mexico (Chuhuahua, Coahuila, Durango, San Luis Potosi, Sonora, Zacatecas). Variety wrightii is remarkably homogeneous throughout its extensive range in Arizona, southeastern California, southern Nevada, New Mexico, western Texas, and southeastern Utah. It is occasionally found in cultivation.

D. E. Moerman (1986) indicated that this variety was used by the Navajo-Keyenta as an emetic.