Stems usually stiff, erect. Leaves often fascicled on older growth; blades 5-35 mm. Heads terminal (± pedunculate) or in leaf axils (sessile). Involucres 12-20 mm. Phyllaries: gland-dotted, sometimes puberulent as well, margins narrowly hyaline, apices acute. Corollas 15-20 mm, throats usually purplish, lobes creamy white. Cypselae yellow-green to golden brown, 11-14 mm; pappus scales mostly brownish to purplish with colorless, hyaline margins, aristae of the longer 1-3+ mm, scabrous. 2n = 22. Flowering Jan-Jun. Sandy soils, rock outcrops in grasslands, chaparral, pine-oak woodlands; 900-2200 m; Ariz., N.Mex., Tex.; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Sonora).