Bahia arachnoidea Fischer & Avé-Lallemant, Index Seminum (St. Petersburg) 9: 63. 1842

Perennials (clumped; ± taprooted or roots branched). Proximal leaves mostly alternate; blades rhombic to oblanceolate, pinnately lobed (usually in distal part of leaf, lobes 3–5, oblong or triangular), ultimate margins entire or dentate, revolute, abaxial faces loosely cobwebby-woolly, adaxial glabrate. Heads 2–4 per array or borne singly. Peduncles mostly 3–10 cm. Involucres 9–15 mm diam. Ray florets 8–15; laminae 8–10 mm. Cypselae (1.8–)2–3.2(–4) mm; pappi 0–0.2 mm. 2n = 16, 32.

Flowering Apr–Jul. Ocean bluffs, inland sites, with conifers; 0–700 m; Calif.

Variety arachnoideum merges with var. grandiflorum in coastal northern California, where intermediates with pappi to 1.3 mm may be found. Variety arachnoideum is morphologically similar to var. croceum; their distributions are disjunct.