Plants 2-7 cm; stems, phyllaries, and often leaves sparsely villous to glabrate, densely short-stipitate-glandular. Leaf blades linear. Phyllaries 1-nerved, herbaceous or slightly tawny-indurate proximally; outer 0.8-1.2 mm wide proximally. Flowering Jul-Sep. Rocky slopes, ridges, dry meadows; 3000-3800 m; Calif. Oreostemma peirsonii is known from the Sierra Nevada near the junction of Fresno, Tulare, and Inyo counties.