[3][4] Madia gracilis is vstem is branching, and hairy and glandular in texture.

The leaves are up to 10 centimeters long and covered in soft hairs and stalked resin glands.

Each head is lined with phyllaries that are coated densely with stalked knobby resin glands.

[5][6] It grows in many habitat types except for arid desert areas, including oak woodlands and mixed evergreen forests.

[7] The seeds were used to make pinole by the indigenous Mendocino, Miwok, and Pomo peoples of California.