Plants 20–40(–50) cm. Stems whitish, leafy, loosely tomentose. Leaves grayish green; blades 1-nerved, linear, 10–35 × 1(–1.5) mm, faces loosely tomentulose. Involucres 8–11.5 mm. Phyllaries 16–23 (outer margins ciliate), apices erect, acute to obtuse (outer) to acuminate (inner), outer abaxial faces tomentose, glabrescent. Corollas 8.4–10.9 mm, tubes glabrous or sparsely puberulent, lobes 0.6–1.3 mm, glabrous; style appendages shorter than stigmatic portions. Cypselae glabrous; pappi 5.2–7.4 mm. 2n = 18.