Tufted globe-amaranth

Plants perennial, cespitose, 0.5-1.5 dm; roots primary, diffuse, woody. Stems ascending, with 1-2 pairs of leaves, sparsely villous, often glabrate. Leaves mostly basal; petiole to 3 cm; blade green, obovate or oblong, 3.5-7.5 × 2-3 cm, apex rounded or obtuse, densely grayish appressed-pilose. Inflorescences: heads white, subglobose, 10-17 mm diam.; bractlets not crested, margins dentate near apex. Flowers: tube densely white-pilose; perianth lobes white to yellow, linear to lanceolate, 4.5-5 mm, hyaline, apex obtuse. Utricles ovoid, 2 mm, apex acute. Seeds 1.5 mm.

Flowering spring-early summer. Open woodlands, especially oak-juniper woodlands, hillsides; 600-2000 m; Ariz., N.Mex.; Mexico (Sonora).