Bristlehead

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).