It is endemic to California, where it is known from the eastern side of the Central Valley and adjacent Sierra Nevada foothills.

It is a woolly, glandular annual herb growing up to about 60 centimeters tall with slender, spreading branches.

The upper leaves are no more than a centimeter long, while the lower ones are longer and sometimes divided into lobes or teeth.

The flower heads appear singly in leaf axils, each lined with purple-tipped, glandular, woolly phyllaries.

The head is discoid, containing no ray florets but a few tubular light lavender to nearly white disc florets with long, narrow lobes.