Desert chicory

Plants 15–60 cm. Involucres 18–25 mm. Ligules surpassing phyllaries by 15–20 mm. Cypselae 12–18(–20) mm, including relatively stout beaks 3–6 mm; pappi of 15–21, plumose (proximal 65–80%) bristles, barbs crooked, entangled. 2n = 16.

Flowering Mar–May. Open sites, sandy soils, gravelly clay loams in Lower and Upper Sonoran Zones, often in Creosote Bush Scrub and Joshua Tree Woodland, Mojave and Colorado deserts; 200–1500 m; Ariz., Calif., Nev., N.Mex., Tex., Utah; Mexico (Baja California, Sonora).