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.