Shrubs, 60–180 cm (rounded), faintly aromatic. Stems green or gray-green, wandlike (usually slender, curved, sometimes stout and stunted in harsh habitats), glabrous or sparsely hairy. Leaves gray-green; blades linear if entire, obovate if lobed, (1.5–)2–5(–6) × 0.1–2.5 cm, entire to 3-lobed, lobes filiform (less than 1 mm wide), apices acute, glabrous or sparsely hairy. Heads (mostly sessile) in paniculiform arrays 8–15(–17) × 2–4(–5) cm (branches erect to somewhat recurved). Involucres globose, 1.5–2 × 1.5–2 mm. Phyllaries (ovate, inconspicuous, margins scarious) densely hairy. Florets: pistillate 1–4; functionally staminate 3–6; corollas pale yellow, 1–1.5 mm, glabrous. Cypselae oblong (distally incurved-falcate and oblique), 0.2–0.5 mm, obscurely nerved, glabrous. 2n = 18.
Sandy soils in deserts and dry plains. Open prairies, dunes and sandy soils; at elevations from 500-2,000 metres.
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