Shrubs, 50-200 cm. Stems 1-5+, erect, spiny, unevenly pannose with glabrescent streaks. Leaves: primaries forming ascending spines, 10-30 mm; secondaries filiform to clavate, 3-20 (× 1+) mm, glabrous or nearly so. Heads 2-5. Peduncles 1-4 mm. Involucres turbinate, ca. 7 mm. Phyllaries 5, oval-elliptic. Florets 5; corollas pale yellow, ca. 9 mm. Cypselae 2.5-3.5 mm, glabrous; pappi of 75-100 bristles ca. 8 mm. 2n = 60. Flowering summer. Rocky sites, pinyon-juniper woodlands; 1400-2100 m; Calif.

Plant: shrubs, < 20 dm, spiny; stems becoming ± glabrous in stripes below spines Leaves: alternate and generally clustered in axils; main leaves 1-2(3) cm, canescent or becoming glabrous, linear, forming straight or ± upturned spines; clustered leaves 3-8(20) mm, thread- to club-like, ± glabrous INFLORESCENCE: primary inflorescence a head, each resembling a flower; heads generally 2-5, discoid, axillary or in ± rounded, terminal clusters; peduncles generally 1-4 mm, tomentose, bracts 0; involucre ± 7 mm, obconic; phyllaries 5, narrowly elliptic, tomentose; receptacle naked Flowers: 5; corollas ± 9 mm, pale yellow, lobes long, spreading; anther bases ± sagittate, tips obtuse or acute; style branches papillate to short-bristly, tips truncate to conic Fruit: achenes, 2.5-3.5 mm, glabrous, obconic or fusiform, often angled; pappus of many fine bristles, ± 8 mm Misc: Pinyon/juniper woodland; 1400-2100 m.; Aug-Sep