Subshrubs or shrubs, 50-150 cm. Stems with slender branches from trunks, glabrous, developing fissured barks. Leaves cauline; petioles 2-7 mm; blades green, elliptic or narrowly ovate, 10-25 mm, apices obtuse, faces strigose. Heads borne singly. Peduncles strigose. Involucres 6-12 mm. Phyllaries lanceolate. Ray florets 0. Disc corollas yellow, 5-6 mm. Cypselae 6-9 mm; pappi 0 or of 2 bristlelike awns. 2n = 36. Flowering Feb-May, Aug-Sep. Desert washes, flats, slopes, roadsides; 0-800 m; Ariz., Calif., Nev.; Mexico (Baja California, Sonora). Plants of Encelia frutescens in the flora area are var. frutescens; var. glandulosa C. Clark, with glandular, strigose leaves, is found in northeastern Baja California and is not expected here.

Plant: Shrub 5-15 dm, with many slender branches from 1-several short trunks; stems branched below; young stems glabrous; older stems with fissured bark Leaves: alternate, generally drought-deciduous, simple, scattered along stems; petioles 2-7 mm; blades 1-2.5 cm, elliptic or narrowly ovate, obtuse, green, strigose INFLORESCENCE: primary inflorescence a head, each resembling a flower; heads discoid, solitary; peduncles strigose; involucre 6-12 mm; phyllaries lanceolate Flowers: Ray flowers 0; Disk flowers: many; corollas 5-6 mm, yellow; tube slender, throat abruptly expanded, lobes triangular; anther tips ovate, ± acute; style tips triangular Fruit: 6-9 mm, strongly compressed, obovate or wedge-shaped; edges long-ciliate; faces glabrous or short-hairy; pappus 2 slender scales or 0 Misc: Desert washes, flats, slopes, roadsides; < 800 m.; Feb-May