Herbs, spreading to erect, annual, (0.3-)0.5-3 dm, glabrous and sparsely glandular, green or reddish green. Stems: caudex absent; aerial flowering stems erect, solid, not fistulose, 0.1-0.5 dm, glabrous, glandular proximally. Leaves basal; petiole 0.4-1.5 cm, hirsute; blade oblong to round, (0.3-)0.5-1(-1.4) × (0.3-)0.5-1(-1.4) cm, hirsute and greenish to yellowish on both surfaces, margins plane. Inflo­rescences cymose, dense, spreading, (2-)5-18 × 2-15 cm; branches not fistulose, glabrous except glandular near proximal nodes; bracts 3, scalelike, 0.5-1.5 × 0.3-1 mm. Peduncles mostly erect, straight or slightly curved, capillary, 0.3-1.2(-2) cm, glabrous, glandular proximally. Involucres turbinate, 1-1.3 × 0.6-1 mm, glabrous; teeth (4-)5, erect, 0.2-0.4 mm. Flowers 1-2.5 mm; perianth golden yellow to reddish, densely short-hirsute with coarse curved hairs; tepals monomorphic, lanceolate; stamens exserted, 1-2.5 mm; filaments sparsely pubescent proximally. Achenes light brown, lenticular to 3-gonous, 1.5-1.8(-2) mm, glabrous. Flowering Apr-Jun. Sandy to gravelly flats and slopes, saltbush, creosote bush, and mesquite communities; of conservation concern; -20-900 m; Calif., Nev. Eriogonum contiguum is confined to the greater Death Valley region in Inyo County, California, and southern Nye County, Nevada.