Perennials (± taprooted). Proximal leaves alternate; blades mostly oblanceolate, 1-pinnately lobed (usually beginning in distal ¹/2 of leaf, lobes 5–7), ultimate margins usually toothed or serrate, rarely entire, revolute, abaxial faces densely woolly, adaxial less so. Heads 2–5 per array or borne singly. Peduncles mostly 5–15(–20) cm. Involucres 10–15 mm diam. Ray florets (8–)11–13; laminae 10–20 mm. Cypselae (3.4–)3.5–5 mm; pappi 0.4–1.8 mm. 2n = 16, 32.

Flowering May–Jun. Dry, rocky sites, sagebrush, forests; 200–1100 m; Idaho, Mont., Oreg., Wash.

Variety lanatum intergrades with var. leucophyllum near the Cascade Mountains in Washington and Oregon, and to the south and west with var. integrifolium (see above). It closely resembles var. grandiflorum; their distributions are disjunct.