Madia radiata is an annual herb growing upright 10 to 90 centimeters tall, the stem often branching and coated in bulbous resin glands.

The bristly, glandular leaves are up to 10 centimeters long, often wider at the top of the plant than below.

The inflorescence produces flower heads lined with hairy, gland-studded phyllaries.

The fruit is a black cypselae a few millimeters long with no pappus.

[3] The Madia radiata current distribution and status is uncertain; most of the known occurrences were observed decades ago and have not been confirmed since, and many have likely been extirpated.