Leaves 25–50(–75) × 15–30(–50+) mm. Peduncles (i.e., stalks supporting glomerules of heads) 5–55 mm. Glomerules hemispheric to subspheric, 10–17 × 20–35 mm. Phyllaries 8–10 mm, connate ¹/2–²/3 lengths, resinous glands to 3 mm. Disc corollas 10 mm. Cypselae 2–3 mm; pappi 0.1–1 mm. 2n = 34.

Flowering spring–fall [year round in Mexico]. Dry canyonlands, granitic slopes, deciduous forests, thorn forests, oak grasslands; 900–1300 m; Ariz.; Mexico.

Pima and Santa Cruz counties represent the northernmost extension of the range of var. decipiens, which extends into Chihuahua and Sonora to northern Sinaloa, whence it is disjunct to Guerrero, Jalisco, Michoacán, and Oaxaca.