Perennials, 4-25(-50) cm; taprooted, caudices simple or branched, branches sometimes rhizomelike. Stems ascending to erect, sparsely to densely hispido-pilose to glabrate, minutely glandular. Leaves mostly basal (usually persistent) or basal and cauline (petioles prominently ciliate, hairs spreading, thick-based); blades narrowly oblanceolate to linear-oblong, 10-50(-80) × 1-4 mm, margins entire, usually ciliate, faces usually hirsute to hirsuto-villous, sometimes substrigose to glabrate, eglandular; cauline unreduced or gradually reduced distally. Heads 1-5. Involucres 4-7 × 7-12(-15) mm. Phyllaries in 2-4 series (midvein region orange or yellowish), hirsute to hirsuto-villous, ± minutely glandular. Ray florets 50-100(-125); corollas white to pink or blue, 6-15 mm, laminae reflexing. Disc corollas 3-5 mm (throats indurate and inflated, hirsuto-strigose, hairs biseriate, sharply pointed). Cypselae 1.2-1.8 mm, 2-nerved, faces sparsely strigoso-hirsute; pappi: outer of scales (0.2-0.5 mm), inner of (7-)10-14(-15) bristles. Erigeron concinnus has been treated within E. pumilus; G. L. Nesom (1983b) found that these species approach each other closely in geographic range without intergradation.

Plant: Perennial forb to 50 cm, from woody taproot and thick, short-branched caudex, cespitose, 1-4-branched below mid-stem; hairs spreading or reflexed, soft-bristly and minutely stalked-glandular Leaves: leaves alternate, basal erect, crowded, 2-6 cm, ± linear to oblanceolate; cauline 0 or gradually reduced upward INFLORESCENCE: primary inflorescence a head, each resembling a flower; heads 1-4, 7-11 mm diam, in flat-topped clusters; phyllaries ± equal Flowers: Ray flowers 40-60, light purple; corollas 7-9 mm, ligules reflexed or weakly coiled; Disk flowers: many; corollas ± widely funnel-shaped, yellow; style tips 0.1-0.8 mm, ± triangular Fruit: achenes, 0.5-3 mm, generally ± oblong, compressed to ± cylindric, generally 2-ribbed, generally sparsely hairy; pappus bristles 7-15, outer series of prominent, wide scales 0.2-0.5 mm Misc: Sandy to rocky slopes, crevices; 1200-1800 m.