It is endemic to the Sierra Nevada of California, where it is known from several types of local habitat.

This is a slender annual herb growing erect and varying in size from just a few centimeters to nearly a meter tall, with long, spreading branches.

The flower heads appear singly or in small clusters.

The head is discoid, containing no ray florets but many funnel-shaped pinkish, lavender, or light bluish-purple disc florets with large lobes.

The fruit is an achene with a whitish pappus of bristles.