Annuals, (5-)10-40+ cm. Stems (1-)3-5+, ascending to erect, usually branched proximally and distally, glabrous or sparsely arachno-puberulent near bases (sometimes glaucous). Cauline leaves: proximal usually pinnately lobed (lobes 3-6+ pairs, usually filiform, subequal to unequal, apices acute), ultimate margins entire, faces glabrous or ± hairy (then usually glabrescent); distal reduced (usually pinnately lobed). Calyculi of 12-20+, lanceolate to linear bractlets, hyaline margins 0.05-0.2 mm wide (abaxial faces often ± densely white-hairy). Involucres campanulate to hemispheric, 9-17 × 4-7 mm. Phyllaries 20-25+ in 2-3 series, lance-linear to linear, hyaline margins 0.05-0.3 mm wide, faces usually glabrous, abaxial sometimes ± white-hairy. Receptacles bristly. Florets 31-139; corollas usually pale yellow, sometimes white, 15-23+ mm; outer ligules exserted 9-15+ mm. Cypselae ± cylindro-fusiform (sometimes weakly 5-angled), 2-3.3 mm, ribs extending to apices, usually ± equal; persistent pappi of 0-12+, blunt to acute teeth plus 1-2(-5) bristles. Pollen 70-100% 3-porate. 2n = 14. Flowering Mar-Jul. Coarse soils in open areas, or among shrubs, creosote bush scrublands, Amsinckia, Artemisia, and Atriplex-Larrea associations, Joshua tree woodlands; 0-1800 m; Ariz., Calif., Idaho, Nev., N.Mex., Oreg., Utah; Mexico (Baja California, Sonora). Malacothrix glabrata grows in the Mojave, Great Basin, and Sonoran deserts in California and the Intermountain region in Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, and Utah.

Plant: Annual 6-40 cm, ± glabrous; sap milky Leaves: basal oblanceolate to obovate, with well spaced teeth or long narrow lobes, base sometimes ± hairy; cauline generally long-lobed, alternate, sessile INFLORESCENCE: primary inflorescence a head, each resembling a flower; heads ligulate, generally 4-7 mm diam; involucre 9-17 mm; outer phyllaries generally 1/2 inner, lanceolate, sometimes short-white-hairy Flowers: corollas 15-23 mm, generally pale yellow (white), readily withering, outer corollas generally exserted 9-13 mm; ligules yellow or white, generally ± purple-striped below Fruit: 2-3.3 mm, generally fusiform, straw-colored to purple-brown, truncate; outer pappus of irregular teeth, bristles 1-5 Misc: Coarse soils in open areas or among shrubs; < 2000 m; Mar-Jun